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THE 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF 

1/ 

EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS, 

BISHOP OF CESAREA, IN PALESTINE. 

IN TEN BOOKS. 
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL, 



THE REV. C. F. CRUSE, A. M. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IX THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED 
BY THE AUTHOR. 



.' ''X^-«t^- ^f5t--^ 



PHILABELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY THE REV. R. DAVIS & BROTHER. 

IfEWYORK: SWORDS, STANFORD & CO.:— ST. LOUIS, MO : REV. JOHN DAVIS. 

Stereotyped by L. Johnson. 



MDCCCXXXIIl. 




\\ 



•^^.V^V' 



Enterkd according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by the Rev. R. 
Davis & Brother, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the Eastern Dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania. 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 030657 



NOTICE. 



The edition of Eusebius here offered to the public, is the first 
that has been issued in this country. It had its origin in the want 
of health, to sustain the ordinary labours of the ministry, and a 
wish to promote the knowledge, and advance the cause of reK- 
gion. The nature of the work, and the estimation in which it 
has usually been held by the learned and pious, sanction the mea- 
sure the Publisher was induced to adopt, as being well calculated 
to answer the design. Circumstances attending the rise and 
early progress of Christianity, in a great measure peculiar to the 
character, condition, and wants of an infant Institution, esta- 
blished by Divine authority, and protected to its completion by 
evident tokens of the Divine presence and approbation, highly 
interesting in their nature, and extremely important to be known, 
invest the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, (especially as it 
succeeds immediately to the Acts of the Apostles, and is for a 
considerable period the only work of the kind,) with a degree 
of value, to subsequent ages, that no other uninspired document 
is entitled to claim. The undersigned is firmly persuaded that 
its extensive circulation will, as it furnishes the means in a good 
degree of comparing modern with primitive times, and of view- 
ing them in contrast with each other, tend to increase useful 
knowledge, promote soundness and unity in the faith, advance 
the cause of the Church, and maintain peace and quietness among 
all Christian people. In the confident opinion, that a general 
acquaintance with primitive Christianity would effect much for 
its cause, he has frequently wished to see the more important 
works of that period accessible to the community at large. The 
following was selected as an experiment, in the confident expec- 
tation of success ; and is now at length issued, though the patron- 

a iii 



IV NOTICE. 

age received will not defray more than half the entire expense 
of the publication. He trusts, however, that its value as a history, 
and its merits as a version, together with the pains and expense 
incurred, to render the volume worthy of public approbation, will 
secure the success of a laudable enterprize. It is his wish to give 
that which he is persuaded the Christian community will be grati- 
fied to receive — the history of the primitive Church, hy Euse- 
hius, accessible to common readers, and executed and finished 
with fidelity. 

Deeming it exceedingly important to the interests of religion, 
that the eye of Christians, generally, should be directed to pri- 
mitive times, the undersigned contemplates the publication of 
some of the choicer works of that period. Should the patronage 
of Christian denominations, generally, warrant the undertaking, 
a regular series of the entire works, and parts of works, of primi- 
tive Christianity, as nearly in their chronological order as may 
be, adapted to the use of parish, congregational, and other public 
libraries, will, as soon as the important arrangements necessary 
to its being executed in good faith can be made, be commenced. 

THE PUBLISHER. 

Philadelphia, March 22d, 1833. 



The following history ends A. D. 324. The Council of Nice met A. D. 325. 
The Author's life and eulogy of Constantine, and that Emperor's address to the 
Council, are therefore, together with the history of Socrates, highly important and 
useful works, without which a proper acquaintance with that important period of the 
Church cannot be acquired. 



ANNOTATIONS 

ON THE 

LIFE AJVD WRITINGS OF EUSEBIUS PAJVIPHILUS, 
BY VALESIUS. 



TRANSLATED* BY THE REV. S. E. PARKER, 

AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLES 'PROSODY,' 'QUANTITY,' AND 'VERSIFICATION,' IN 



DR. REES S CYCLOPiEDIA. 



According to the testimony of Socrates,! a book relative to the life 
of Eusebius, was written by Acacius, the scholar of that prelate, and 
his successor in the see of Caesarea. This book, however, through 
that negligence in antiquity to which the loss of many others is to 
be ascribed, is not noAv extant ; but from the testimonies of the 
several writers that have mentioned Eusebius, no exertions of ours 
shall be wanting to supply the defect. 

It appears that Eusebius was born in Palestine, about the close of 
the reign of Gallienus. One proof of which is, that by the ancients, 
particularly by Basilius and Theodoret, he is frequently termed a Pa- 
lestinian. It is not impossible, indeed, that he might have received 
that name from his being the bishop of Caesarea, yet probability is in 
favour of his having derived it from his country. In short, he him- 
self affirms,^ that he was educated, and when a youth, dwelt in Pales- 
tine, and that there he first saw Constantine, when journeying through 
Palestine in the suit of Diocletian Augustus. Eusebius, too, after 
repeating§ the contents of a law, written in favour of the Christians, 
by Constantine to the Palestinians, observes, "This letter of the Em- 
peror's is the first sent to us." 

On the authority of Eusebius himself, it may be affirmed, that he 

* In this version, the sense, more than the expression of Valesius, is regarded. 
t Eccles. Hist. lib. 2. c. 4. 

4: In his first book concerning the life of Constantine, chap. 19. 
§ Life of Constantine, book ii. chap. 43, where see note a. Cambr. edit. 1692. 

5 



vi LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

was born in the last part of the reign of GaUienus ; for, in his Ec- 
clesiastic History, he informs us, that Dionysius, bishop of Alexan- 
dria, lived in his own age.* Eusebius, therefore, since Dionysius 
died in the twelfth year of the reign of GaUienus, must have been 
born before, if he lived within the time of that prelate. The same 
inference, also, follows, from his stating,! that Paul of Samosata, had 
revived the heresy of Artemon, in hisX age. And in his history of 
the occurrences during the reign of GaUienus, before he begins the 
narrative of the error and condemnation of Paul of Samosata, he ob- 
serves, " but now, after the history of these things, we will transmit 
to posterity an account of our own age.^^ 

Whom he had for his parents is uncertain ; neither do we know by 
what authorities, Nicephorus CaUistus is warranted in affirming, that 
his mother was the sister of Pamphilus the martyr. Eusebius of 
Caesarea, in Arius's letter,§ is termed brother to Eusebius of Nico- 
media. Though he possibly might, on account of his friendship, 
have received this appellation, yet it is more probable that he was 
nearly related to the Nicomedian bishop ; especiaUy since, Eusebius 
of Caesarea only, though many others there are mentioned, is termed 
by Arius, brother to that prelate. Besides the Nicomedian Eusebius 
was a native of Syria, and bishop first of Berytus : nor was it then 
the usage, that foreigners and persons unknown, should be promoted 
to the government of churches. 

Neither is it known what teachers he had in secular learning ; but 
in sacred literature, he had for his preceptor Dorotheus, the eunuch, 
presbyter of the Antiochian church, of whom he makes honourable 
mention, in his Seventh Book.|| Notwithstanding Eusebius there 
says only, that he had heard Dorotheus expounding the Holy Scrip- 
tures with propriety, in the Antiochian church, we are not inclined 
to object to any one hence inferring, with Trithemius, that Eusebius 
was Dorotheus's disciple. Theotecnus being at that time dead, the 
bishopric of the church of Caesarea was administered by Agapius, a 
person of eminent piety and great liberality to the poor. By him 
Eusebius was admitted into the clerical office, and with Pamphilus, 
a presbyter of distinction at that time in the Caesarean church, he 

* See lib. 3. c. 28. f Eccles. Hist, book v, chap. 28. + Eusebius's. 

§ Arius's letter to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, will be found in Theodoret's 
Eccles, Hist. lib. 1. c. 5. edit. Val \\ Chap. 1. p. 2. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. Vii 

entered into the firmest friendship. Pamphilus was, as Photius re- 
lates, a Phoenician, born at Berytus, and scholar of Pierius, a pres- 
byter of the Alexandrian church. Who, since he was animated with 
the most singular attachment to sacred literature, and was with the 
utmost zeal collecting all the books, especially Origen's, of the eccle- 
siastic writers, founded a very celebrated school and library at Coesa- 
rea, of which school Eusebius seems to have been the first master. 
Indeed, it is afiirmed* by Eusebius, that Apphianus, who suffered 
martyrdom in the third year of the persecution, had been instructea 
by him in the sacred Scriptures, in the city of Caesarea. From that 
time Eusebius's intimacy with Pamphilus was so great, and his at- 
tention to him, as his inseparable companion till his death such, that 
from this attachment he acquired the name of Pamphilus. Neither 
did that attachment terminate with the death of the latter, but survived 
with the former, who ever mentioned his deceased friend in the most 
respectful and affectionate manner; this, indeed, is exemplified by the 
three books, eulogized by St. Jerome, and written by Eusebius, con- 
cerning the life of Pamphilus, and by many passages in his Eccle- 
siastic History, and in his account of the martyrs of Palestine. In 
his Second Book, also, against Sabellius, written by Eusebius, after 
the Nicene Council, he frequently commends Pamphilus, though he 
suppresses his name. In the commencement of that discourse, Euse- 
bius observes, " I think that my ears are as yet affected by the me- 
mory of that blessed man ; for I seem to be yet hearing him utter that 
devout word, ' the only begotten Son of God,' a phrase he constantly 
employed ; for it was the remembrance of the only begotten to the 
glory of the unborn Father. Now we have heard the apostle com- 
manding that presbyters ought to be honoured with a double honour, 
those especially who have laboured in the word and docti'ine." And 
at page 29, he thus again speaks of his friend : " With these things 
from the memory of that blessed man, I am not elated, but wish I 
could so speak, as if, together with you, I were always hearing from 
him. And the words now cited may be pleasing to him, for it is the 
glory of good servants to speak truth concerning the Lord, and it is 
the honour of those fathers, who have taught well, if their doctrines 
be repeated."! Some, it is true, " may insinuate, that these were 

* In his book concerning the martyrs of Palestine. 

\ Again, in the same book, p. 37 : " These words we always heard from that 
blessed man, for they were often thus spoken by him." 



viii LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

phrases, the creatures of his lips, and no proof of the feelings of his 
heart. I remember, however, in what a satisfactory manner, I have 
heard with you, his solemn asseveration, that there was not one thing 
on his tongue and another in his heart." Shortly after, he says : 
*' But now on account of the memory and honour of this our father, 
so good, so laborious, and so vigilant for the church, let these facts 
be briefly stated by us. For we have not mentioned yet his family, 
his education or learning, nor narrated the other incidents of his life, 
and its leading or principal object.''''* These passages in Eusebius 
were pointed out to us by the most learned Franciscus Ogerius. 
Hence it may be satisfactorily inferred, that it was not any family 
alliance, but the bond of amity that connected Eusebius with Pam- 
phius. Eusebius, though he mentions Pamphilus so frequently, and 
boasts so highly of his friendship, yet never speaks of him as a 
relative. The testimony of Eusebius alone is suflfiicient to decide 
that Pamphilus, though his friend, was not his kinsman. Since 
in the close of his Seventh Book of Ecclesiastic History, where 
he is makmg mention of Agapius, bishop of Caesarea, he says : " In 
his time, we became acquainted with Pamphilus, a most eloquent 
man, and in his life and practices truly a philosopher,! and in the 
same church, ennobled with the honour of the presbytery." Since 

* " Propositum" is the word employed by Valesius, doubtless in that accepta- 
tion in which its precise sense is so easily appreciated by the classic reader in 
Horace, Car. lib. iii. ode iii. line i. " Justum et tenacera propositi virum, non 
civium ardor prava jubentium, non vultus instantis tyranni mente quatit solida," 
&c. Should not Christians have, universally, a far more vivid perception of this 
beautiful picture of mind than heathens 1 St. Paul had ; see Philip, chap. iii. ver 
13 «fe 14. 

■j- The term philosopher, in the modern sense in which it is commonly under- 
stood, by no means expresses the precise meaning of the word <?i;^o(ro(?o5, here used 
by Eusebius. By Isocrates, it is frequently employed to express an eloquent per 
son, or teacher of eloquence. Its generic sense is a lover of -wisdom. Wisdom 
by the Sophists, was of course confined to their own doctrines. But according to 
the sense in which Josephus and other Grecian writers employed the word <?«?woo-o(?os, 
the lover of tuisdom, seems not to be searching for wisdom, either in the doctrines 
of the Sophists, or in the Cartesian vortices, but in the vohimes of inspired truth. 
This character, then, is equivalent to what in modern language is calbd a theolo- 
gian, in which sense, I have no doubt, Eusebius is here to be understood. Hence 
Pamphilus was a character not only devoted to the attainment of that toisdom, 
which is developed in the sacred code, but his life and practices were such as to 
recommend it to others; consequently, a true theologian. — Translator. 



LIFE OP EUSEBIUS. ix 

then, Eusebius attests that Pamphilus was then first known to him, 
it is sufficiently evident, that family alliance was not the tie that con- 
nected them. 

In these times occurred that most severe persecution of the Chris- 
tians, which was begun by Diocletian, and by his successors con- 
tinued unto the tenth year. During this persecution, Eusebius, at 
that time being a presbyter of the church of Cassarea, abode almost 
constantly in that city, and by continual exhortations, instructed 
many persons in order to martjTdom. Amongst whom was Ap- 
phianus, a noble youth, whose illustrious fortitude in martyrdom is 
related in Eusebius's book concerning the martyrs of Palestine. In 
the same year Pamphilus was cast into prison, where he spent two 
whole years in bonds. During which time, Eusebius by no means 
deserted his friend and companion, but visited him continually, and 
in the prison wrote, together with him, five books in defence of Ori- 
gen ; but the sixth and last book of that work, he finished after the 
death of Pamphilus. — That whole work was by Eusebius and Pam- 
philus dedicated* to Christian confessors,! living in the mines of Pa- 
lestine. In the time of this persecution, on account, probably, of 
some urgent affairs of the church, Eusebius went to Tyre. During 
his residence there, he witnessed! the glorious martyrdom of five 
Egyptian Christians ; and afterwards, on his aiTival in Egypt and 
Thebais, the persecution then prevailing there, he § beheld the admi- 
rable constancy of many martyrs of both sexes. Some have in- 
sinuated that Eusebius, to exempt himself in this persecution, from 
the troubles of a prison, sacrificed to idols ; and that this Avas ob- 
jected against him, as will be hereafter related, by the Egyptian 
bishops and confessors, in the synod at Tyre. But we doubt not 
that this is false, and that it was a calumny forged by the ene- 

* This is afiirmed by Photius in his BibHotheca, chap. 118. 

■}■ Though the word here employed by Valesius, is confessores, yet there cannot 
be the least doubt, that the characters to whom he alludes were very different from 
those which a more recent application of the term might intimate. Confessores 
were simply persons that had confessed and acknowledged openly, during the time 
of the persecution, that they were Christians, and would not, to save either their 
lives or property, deny their Master or his sacred cause. They were decided cha- 
racters, tenaces propositi. This term was employed by Valesius, who lived in an 
age of the church when its use was popular. 

+ Eusebius informs us of this in his Eighth Book, chap. 7. 

§ This he relates in the ninth chapter of the same Book. 



X LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

mies of Eusebius. For had a crime so great been really committed 
by him, how could he have been afterwards appointed bishop of 
Caesarea ? How is it likely that he should, in this case, have been 
invited by the Antiochians to undertake the episcopate of their city ? 
And yet Cardinal Baronius has seized on that as certain and un- 
doubted, which by his enemies, for litigious purposes, was objected 
against Eusebius, but never confirmed by the testimony of any one. 
At the same time, a book was written by Eusebius against Hierocles. 
For Hierocles of Nicomedia, about the beginning of the persecution, 
when the Christian churches were everywhere harassed, in the city 
of Nicomedia, published, as an insult to a religion then assailed by 
all its enemies, two* books against the Christian faith. In which books 
he asserted, that ApoUonius Tyaneus performed more and greater 
thingst than Christ. These impious assertions, Eusebius answered in 
a very short book, as if he regarded the man and his cause of little 
consequence. 

vAgapius, bishop of Cfesarea during this interval, being dead, the 
persecution subsiding, and peace being restored to the church, Euse- 
bius, by common consent, succeeds to the episcopal dignity at Caesa- 
rea. Others represent Agricola, who subscribed to the synod of 
Ancyra, at which he was present in the 314th year of the Christian 
era, to be the successor of Agapius. This is affirmed by Baronius 
in his Annalsj: and Blondellus.§ The latter writes, that Eusebius un- 
dertook the administration of the church of Caesarea, after the death 
of Agiicola, about the year 315. But these subscriptions of the bishops 
extant only in the Latin collections of the canons, seem in our 
judgment to be entitled to little credit. For they occur not either in 
the Greek copies, or in the Latin versions of Dionysius Exiguus, 
Berides, Eusebius, |1 enumerating the bishops of the principal dio- 
cesses, where the persecution began and raged, ends with the men- 
tion of Agapius bishop of Caesarea ; who, he observes, laboured much, 
during that persecution, for the good of his own church. The ne- 
cessary inference, therefore, is, that Agapius must have been bishop 
until the end of the persecution. But Eusebius was elevated to the 

* Which he termed (p.xa^sieE.f, 

f No word for " miracles'" occurs in the text of Valesius. 

\ Ad. annum Christi, 314. 

§ In his Apology pro Sententia Hieronymi. c. 19. Val. 

II In the 7th Book of his Ecclesiactic Hist. chap. 32. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xi 

episcopal function immediately after that persecution. For after peace 
was restored to the church, Eusebius* and other prelates being in- 
vited by Paulinus bishop of Tyi-e, to the dedication of a cathedral, 
Eusebius made there a very eloquent oration. Now this happened 
before the rebellion of Licinius against Constantino, in the 315th 
year of the Christian era, about Avhich period Eusebius wrote those 
celebrated books concerning Evangelic Demonstration and Prepara- 
tion. And these books were certainly written before the Nicenc 
Synod, since they are expressly mentioned in his Ecclesiastic His- 
tory, which was written, as proved in our Annotations, before that 
council. 

Meanwhile, Licinius, who managed the government in the eastern 
parts, excited by sudden rage, began to persecute the Christians, es- 
pecially the prelates, whom he suspected of showing more favour, 
and of offering up more prayers for Constantino than for himself. 
Constantino, however, having defeated him in two battles by land and 
sea, compelled him to surrender, and restored peace to the Christians 
of the eastern countries. 

A disturbance, however, far more grievous, arose at that time, 
amongst the Christians themselves. For since Arius, a presbyter of 
the city of Alexandria, would in the church, publicly advance some 
new and impious tenet relative to the Son of God, and notwith- 
standing repeated admonition by Alexander the bishop, persisted, he 
and his associates in this heresy, were at length expelled. Highly 
resenting this, Arius sent letters with a sketch of his own faith to 
all the bishops of the neighbouring cities, in which he complained, 
that since he asserted the same doctrines that the rest of the east- 
ern prelates maintained, he had been unjustly deposed by Alexander. 
Many bishops imposed on by these artifices, and powerfully excited 
by Eusebius of Nicomedia, who openly favoured the Arian party, 
wrote letters in defence of Arius to Alexander bishop of Alexandria, 
entreating him to restore Arius to his former rank in the church. 
Our Eusebius was one of their number, whose letter written to Alex- 
ander is extant in the acts of the seventh Oecumenical Synod, which 
we have inserted amongst the testimoniest of the ancients. The 

* As we are informed in the tenth book of his Ecclesiastic Hist. Val. See chap. 
4, where Eusebius has inserted this oration. 

f Of these, Valesius, after his account of Eusebius's life and writings, presents a 
collection made by himself, both for and against Eusebius. q. v. 

b 



V 



xu LIFE OF EUSEBTUS. 

example of Eusebius of Caesarea, was soon followed by Theodotius 
and Paulinus, the one bishop of Laodicea, the other of Tyre, who 
interceded with Alexander for Arius's restoration. Of which letter, 
since Arius boasted on every occasion, and by the authority of such 
eminent men, drew many into the participation of his heresy, Alex- 
ander was compelled to write to the other eastern bishops, that the 
justice of the expulsion of Arius and his associates might be under- 
stood. Two letters of Alexander's are yet extant ; the one to Alex- 
ander bishop of Constantinople, in which the former complains of 
three Syrian bishops, who, agreeing with Arius, had more than ever 
inflamed that contest, which they ought rather to have suppressed. 
These three, as may be learned from Arius's letter to Eusebius bishop 
of Nicomedia, are Eusebius, Theodotius, and Paulinus. The other 
letter of Alexander's, written to all the bishops throughout the world, 
Socrates records in his first book.* To these letters of Alexander's, 
almost all the eastern bishops subscribed, amongst whom the most 
eminent were Philogonius bishop of Antioch, Eustathius of Beraea, 
and Macarius of Jerusalem. 

The bishops who favoured the Arian party, especially Eusebius of 
Nicomedia, imagining themselves to be severely treated in Alexan- 
der's letters, devoted themselves with much greater acrimony to the 
defence of Arius. For our Eusebius of Caesarea, together with Pa- 
trophilus, Paulinus, and other Syrian bishops, merely voted that 
liberty to Arius might be granted of holding, as a presbyter, assem- 
blies in the church, subject notwithstanding to Alexander the bishop, 
and of imploring for reconciliation and church fellowship. The 
bishops disagreeing thus amongst themselves, some favouring the 
party of Alexander, and others that of Arius, the contest became sin- 
gularly aggravated ; to remedy this, Constantine, from all parts of the 
Roman world, summoned to Nicaea, a city of Bythinia, a general 
synod of bishops, such as no age before had seen. In this greatest and 
most celebrated council, our Eusebius was not one of either party. 
For he both had the first seat on the right hand, and in the name of 
the whole synod addressed the emperor Constantine, who sat on a 
golden chair, between the two rows of the opposite parties. This is 
affirmed by Eusebius himself in his Lifet of Constantine, and by 

* Chap. 6. 

f In his preface to the first book concerning the life of Constantine, and in his 
third book of the same work, chap. ii. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xiii 

Sozomen* in his Ecclesiastic History. Afterwards, when there was a 
considerable contest amongst the bishops, relative to a creed or form 
of faith, our Eusebius proposed a formula, at once simple and ortho 
dox, which received the general commendation both of the bishops 
and of the emperor himself. Something, notwithstanding, seeming 
to be wanting in the creed, to confute the impiety of the new opinion, 
the fathers of the Nicene Council, determined that these words, 
" Very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one sub- 
stance w^iTH the Father," should be added. They also annexed 
anathemas against those who should assert that the Son of God was 
made of things not existing, and that there was a time when he ex- 
isted not. At first, indeed, our Eusebius refused to admit the term 
" consubstantial,^^i but when the import of that word was explained 
to him by the other bishops, he consented, and as he himself relates 
in his letter! ^o his diocess at Caesarea, subscribed to the creed. Some 
affirm that it was the necessity of circumstances, or the fear of the 
emperor, and not the conviction of his own mind, that compelled 
Eusebius to subscribe to the Nicene Council. Of some, present at 
the synod, this might be believed, but this we cannot think of Euse- 
bius bishop of Caesarea. After the Nicene Council, too, Eusebius al- 
ways condemned§ those who asserted that the Son of God was made 
of things not existing. Athanasius likewise affirms the same con- 
cerning him, who though he frequently mentions that Eusebius sub- 
scribed to the Nicene Council, nowhere intimates that he did that in 
dissimulation. Had Eusebius subscribed to that Council, not accord- 
ing to his own mind, but fraudulently and in pretence, why did he 
afterwards send the letter we have mentioned to his diocess at Caesarea, 
and therein ingenuously profess that he had embraced that faith which 
had been published in the Nicene Council ? 

After that Council, the Arians through fear of the emperor, were, 
for a short time quiet. But by artfully ingratiating themselves into 
the favour of the prince, they resumed boldness, and began by every 

* In the first book of that work, chap. 19. 

■j- *Oftoov<rK>s, consubstantial, of the same substance, or of the same essence, co-es- 
sential. 

^ See this letter in Socrates, book i. chap. 8. 

§ This is evident from his books against Marcellus, particularly from the 9th 
and 10th chapters of his first book, Be Ecclesiastica Theologid. 



xiv LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

method and device, to persecute the Catholic prelates.* Their first 
attack fell on Eustathius, bishop of the city of Antioch, eminent both 
for the glory of his confession, and for the rank he sustained amongst 
the advocates of the Nicene faith. Eustathius was, therefore, accused 
before the emperor of maintaining the Sabellian impiety, and of slan- 
dering Helena Augusta, the emperor's mother. A numerous assembly 
of bishops was convened in the city of Antioch, in which Eusebius 
of Nicomedia, the chief and ring-leader of the whole faction, presided. 
In addition to the accusation advanced at this assembly by Cyrus 
bishop of the Beraeans, against Eustathius, of maintaining the impious 
doctrine of Sabellius, another! is devised against hun of incontinency, 
and he is therefore expelled from his diocese. On this account, a 
very impetuous tumult arose at Antioch. The people divided into 
two factions, the one requesting that the episcopacy of the Antiochian 
church might be conferred on Eusebius of Caesarea, the other, that 
Eustathius their bishop might be restored, would have resorted to 
measures of violence, had not the fear and authority of the emperor 
and judges prevented it. The sedition being at length terminated, and 
Eustathius banished, our Eusebius, though entreated both by the 
people, and the bishops that were present, to undertake the adminis- 
tration of the church at Antioch, nevertheless refused. And, when 
the bishops by letters written to Constantine, had acquainted him 
with their own vote, and with the suffrages of the people, Eusebius 
wrote his letters also to that prince, and Eusebius's resolution is 
highly commended in the emperor's answer. 

Eustathius, having been in this manner deposed, which occurred, as 
remarked in our annotations^ in the year 330, the Arians turned the vio- 
lence of their fury on Athanasius ; and in the prince's presence they 
complained first of his ordination ; secondly, that he had exacted§ the 
impost of a linen garment from the provincials ; thirdly, that he had 

* " Catholicos Antistites" are the words of Valesius ; but, doubtless, to be under- 
stood here, as signifying, not the prelates of the Arian, or of any other seceding 
party, but of the orthodox church universally, according to the meaning of the term 
catholicus, universal. 

fThe story is given in Theodoret's Eccles. Hist. Book i. chap. 21. edit. Vales. 

t See Life of Constantine, book 3, chap. 59, note e. 

§ This calumny, the Meletians, instigated by Eusebius of Nicomedia, invented ; 
as Athanasius tells us in his Apology to Constantine. See his works, torn. 1, 
p. 778. Edit. Paris, 1627. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xv 

broken a sacred cup ; and lastly, that he had murdered one Arsenius, a 
bishop. Constantine, wearied with these vexatious litigations, appointed 
a council in the city^ of Tyre, and directed Athanasius the bishop to pro- 
ceed there, to make his defence. In that synod, Eusebius bishop of 
Caesarea, whom Constantine had desired should be present, sat amongst 
others, as judge. Potamo bishop of Heracleopolis, who had come with 
Athanasius the bishop and some Egyptian prelates, seeing him sitting 
in the council, is said to have addressed him in these words : "Is 
it fit, Eusebius, that you should sit, and that the innocent Athanasius 
should stand to be judged by you ? Who can endure this ? Were 
you not in custody with me, during the time of the persecution? 
And I tndy, in defence of the truth, lost an eye ; but you are injured 
in no part of your body, neither did you undergo martjTdom, but 
are alive and whole. In what manner did you escape out of prison, 
unless you promised to our persecutors that you would commit the 
detestable* thing? And perhaps you have done it." This is related 
by Epiphanius, in the heresy of the Meletians. Hence it appears, 
that they are mistaken who affirm, that Eusebius had sacrificed to 
idols, and that he had been convicted of the fact in the Tyrian synod. 
For Potamo did not attest that Eusebius had sacrificed to idols, 
but only that he was dismissed out of prison safe and whole ; a cir- 
cumstance that favoured the malevolent surmise of Potamo. It was, 
however, evidently possible that Eusebius might have been dismissed 
from confinement in a manner very different from that of Potamo's 
insinuation. From the words of Epiphanius, it seems to be inferred 
that Eusebius bishop of Caesarea presided at this synod; for he adds, 
that Eusebius being previously affected in hearing the accusation 
against him by Potamo, dismissed the council. Yet by other writers 
we are informed, that not Eusebius bishop of Caesarea, but Eusebius 
of Nicomedia, presided at the T^Tian synod. t 

After that council, all the bishops who had assembled at Tyre, re- 
paired, by the emperor's orders, to Jerusalem, to celebrate the conse 

* That is, to sacrifice to idols, 

■j- Is it not a possible case that both presided '? viz., First, Eusebius of Csesarea, 
until the insult he sustained in the disparagement of his character by Potamo's 
insinuation. Feeling then, that his character stood arraigned by that insmuation, 
that he judged it expedient either to dismiss the council, or at least to leave it to 
the presidential jurisdiction of one less objectionable to Potamo, viz., to Eusebius 
of Nicomedia. 



XVI LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

cration of the great church, which Constantine in honour of Christ 
had erected in that place. There our Eusebius graced the solemnity, 
by the several sermons he delivered. And when the emperor, by 
very strict letters, had summoned the bishops to his own court, that 
in his presence they might give an account of their fraudulent and 
litigious conduct towards Athanasius, our Eusebius, with five others, 
went to Constantinople, and furnished that prince with a developement 
of the whole transaction. Here also, in the palace, he delivered his 
tricennalian oration, which the emperor heard with the utmost joy, not 
so much on account of any praises to himself, as on account of the 
praises of God, celebrated by Eusebius throughout the whole of that 
oration. This oration was the second delivered by Eusebius in that 
palace.* For he had before made an oration there, concerning the 
sepulchre of our Lord, which the emperor heard standing : nor could 
he, though repeatedly entreated by Eusebius, be persuaded to sit in 
the chair placed for him,t alleging that it was fit that discourses con- 
cerning God should be heard standing. 

How dear and acceptable our Eusebius was to Constantine, may 
be known both from the facts we have narrated, as well as from many 
other circumstances. For he both received many letters from him, 
as may be seen in the books already mentioned, and was not unfre- 
quently sent for to the palace, where he was entertained at table, and 
honoured with familiar conversation. Constantine, moreover, related 
to our Eusebius, the vision of the cross seen by him when on his 
expedition against Maxentius ; and showed to him, as Eusebius in- 
formsj us, the labarum§ that he had ordered to be made to represent 
the likeness of that cross. Constantine also, committed to Eusebius, 
since he knew him to be most skilful in Biblical knowledge, the 
care and superintendency of transcribing copies 1| of the Scriptures, 
which he wanted for the accommodation of the churches he had built 
at Constantinople. Lastly, the book concerning the Feast of Easter, 
dedicated to him by our Eusebius, was a present to Constantine, so 
acceptable, that he ordered its immediate translation into Latin ; and 
by letter entreated Eusebius, that he would communicate, soon as 

* According to his own testimony, in his fourth Boo§, concerning the Life of 
Constantine, chap. 46. 

f As Eusebius relates in the 33d chapter of the Life of Constantine. 

■^ Life of Constantine, lib. 1. c. 28 & 30. § An imperial standard. 

g Life of Constantine, lib. 4. c. 34 & 35. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xvii 

possible, works of this nature, with which he was engaged, to those 
concerned in the study of sacred literature. 

About the same time, Eusebius dedicated a small book to the em- 
peror Constantino, in which was comprised his description of the 
Jerusalem church, and of the gifts that had been consecrated there. 
— Which book, together with his tricennalian oration, that he had 
placed at the close of his Life of Constantino, is not now extant. At 
the same time, Eusebius wrote five books against Marcellus ; of which 
the three last, De Ecclesiastica Theologia, he dedicated to Flaccil- 
lus bishop of Antioch. Flaccillus entered on that bishopric, a little 
before the synod of Tyre, which was convened in the consulate of 
Constantius and Albinus, A. D. 335. It is certain that Eusebius, in 
his First Book* writes in express words, that Marcellus had been 
deservedly condemned by the church. Now Marcellus was first con- 
demned in the synod held at Constantinople, by those very bishops 
that had consecrated Constantino's church at Jerusalem, in the year 
of Christ 335, or, according to Baronius, 336. Socrates,! indeed, ac- 
knowledges only three books written by Eusebius against Marcellus, 
namely, those entitled, "De Ecclesiastica Theologia;" but the whole 
work by Eusebius, against Marcellus, comprised Five Books. The 
last books written by Eusebius, seem to be the four on the life of Cbn- 
stantine ; for they were written after the death of that emperor, whom 
Eusebius did not long survive, since he died about the beginning of 
the reign of Constantius Augustus, a little before the death of Con- 
stantino Junior, which happened, according to the testimony of So- 
crates' Second J Book, when Acindynus and Proculus were consuls, 
A. D. 340. 

We cannot admit, what Scaliger§ has affirmed, that Eusebius's 
books against Porphyry, were written under Constantius, the son of 
Constantino the Great, especially since this is confirmed by the tes- 
timony of no ancient writer. Besides, in what is immediately after 
asserted by Scaliger, that Eusebius wrote his three|| last books of the 
Evangelic Demonstration, against Porphyry, there is an evident error. 
St. Jerome says, indeed, that Eusebius in three volumes, (that is, in 

* De Ecclesiastica Theologia, chap. 14. 

f Eccles. Hist, book 2. chap. 30 : where see note k. 

+ Chap. 4 «fc 5. 

§ In his Animadversions on Eusebius, page 250, last edit. 

I Namely, the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth. 



xvm LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth,) answered Porphyry, who 
in the Twelfth and Thirteenth of those books which he published 
against the Christians, had attempted to confute the book of the 
prophet Daniel. St. Jerome,* however, does not mean, as Scaliger 
thought, Eusebius's Books on Evangelic Demonstration, but the books 
he wrote against Porphyry, entitled, according to Photius's Biblio- 
theca, ^^v 'iKsyzou x«. v^oxoj^.;^;, Refutation and Defence, We are also 
persuaded that Eusebius wrote these books after his Ecclesiastic 
History; because Eusebius, though on other occasions he usually 
refers to his own works, does not in the Sixth Bookt of his Eccle- 
siastic History, where he quotes a notorious passage from Por- 
phyry,| make any mention of the books he wrote against him. 

We avail ourselves of the present opportunity to make some re- 
marks relative to Eusebius's Ecclesiastic History, the chief subject 
of our present labour and exertions. Much, indeed, had been written 
by our Eusebius, both against Jews and Heathens, to the edification 
of the orthodox and general church, and in confirmation of the verity 
of the Christian faith, nevertheless, amongst all his books, his Eccle- 
siastic History deservedly stands pre-eminent. For before Eusebius, 
many had written in defence of Christianity, and had, by the most 
satisfactory arguments, refuted the Jews on the one hand and the Hea- 
thens on the other, but not one, before Eusebius, had delivered to pos- 
terity a history of ecclesiastic affairs. On which account, therefore, 
because Eusebius, not only was the first to show this example, but 
has transmitted to us, what he undertook, in a state so complete and 
perfect, he is entitled to the greater commendation. Though many, 
it is true, induced by his example, have, since his time, furnished 
accounts of ecclesiastic affairs, yet they have not only uniformly 
commenced their histories from the times of Eusebius, but have left 
him to be the undisputed voucher of the period of which he yet re- 
mains the exclusive historian, and consequently he only is entitled to 
the epithet of the father of ecclesiastic history. 

By what preliminary circumstances Eusebius was led to this his 
chef-d'cBuvre, it is not difficult to conjecture. Having in his Chro- 
nological Canons accurately stated the time of the advent and passion 
of Jesus Christ, the names of the several bishops that had presided in 
the four principal churches, and of the eminent characters therein, 

* In his preface to his Commentary on Daniel. 

f Chap. 19. i From Porphyry's third book against the Christians. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xix 

and having also detailed an account of the successive heresies and 
persecutions, he was, as it were, led by insensible degrees to write a 
history specially on ecclesiastic affairs, to furnish a full developement 
of what had been but briefly sketched in his Chronological Canons. 
This, indeed, is expressly confirmed by Eusebius in his preface* to 
that work ; where he also implores the forbearance of the candid 
reader, on account of his work being less circumstantial, consequent 
on his travelling in a path before untrod, and his being precluded from 
the intimations on that subject of any previous writer. Though this, 
it is true, in the view of some, may appear not so much an apology, 
as an indirect device of acquiring praise. 

Though it is evident from Eusebius's own testimony, that he wrote 
his Ecclesiastic History, after his Chronological Canons, it is re- 
markable that the twentieth yearf of Constantino is a limit common to 
both those works. Nor is it less singular, that, though the Nicene 
Council was held in that year,:}: yet no mention is made of it in either 
work. But in his Chronicle, at the fifteenth year of Constantino, we 
read that " Alexander is ordained the nineteenth bishop of the Alex- 
andrian church, by whom Arius the presbyter being expelled, joins 
many to his own impiety. A synod, therefore, of three hundred and 
eighteen bishops, is convened at Nice, a city of Bithynia, who by 
their agreement on the term '^^.ooujo;, (consubstantial, or co-essential) 
suppressed all the devices of the heretics." It is sufficiently evident 
that these words were not written by Eusebius, but by St. Jerome, 
who in Eusebius's Chronicle inserted many passages of his own. For, 
not to mention that this reference to the Nicene Council is inserted 
in a place with which it has no proper connexion, Avho could believe 
that Eusebius would thus write concerning Arius, or should have in- 
serted the term 'oa^oous'o? in his own Chronicle ; which word, as we 
shall hereafter state, was not satisfactory to him. Was it likely that 
Eusebius should, in the Chronicle, state that three hundred and eigh- 
teen bishops were present at the Nicene synod, and in his Third§ 
Book on the Life of Constantino, say expressly that something more 
than two hundred and fifty sat in that council ? We doubt not, how- 
ever, that the Ecclesiastical History was not completely finished by 
Eusebius till some years after the council at Nice. As Dionysius of 

* Book 1. chap. 1- f i. e. A. D. 325. 

t On Constanthie's Vicennalia, that is, on the twentieth year of his empire. 
§ Chap. 8. 



XX LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

Halicarnassus, in his Comparison of Herodotus and Thucydides, had 
long since intimated to the writers of histories, the propriety of ter- 
minating their narratives at the consummation of some illustrious 
event, Eusebius had, therefore, it is likely, resolved to close his his- 
tory with that peace, which after Diocletian's persecution shone, as 
he observes, like a light from heaven upon the church ; on this ac- 
count, probably, he avoided mentioning the Nicene synod, lest he 
should be compelled to commence a narrative of renewed litigation, 
and that too of bishops one amongst another. Now what event 
more illustrious could have been desired by Eusebius, than that re- 
pose, which after a most sanguinary persecution, had been restored 
to the Christians by Constantino ; when the persecutors, and Licinius 
being every where extinct, not a fear of past afflictions could exist. 
This epoch, therefore, rather than that of the Nicene council, afford- 
ed the most eligible limit to his Ecclesiastical History. For in that 
synod, the contentions seemed not so much appeased as renewed ; 
and that not through any fault of the synod itself, but by the perti- 
nacity of those who refused to acquiesce in the very salutary decrees 
of that. venerable assembly. 

Having said thus much relative to the life and writings of Euse 
bins, it remains to make some remarks in reference to the soundness 
of his religious faith and sentiments. Let not the reader, however, 
here expect from us a defence, nor even any opinion of our own, but 
rather the judgment of the church and of the ancient fathers concern- 
ing him. Wherefore, certain points shall be here premised, as pre- 
liminary propositions, relying on which, we may arrive at the greater 
certainty relative to the faith of Eusebius. As the opinions of the 
ancients concerning Eusebius, are various, since some have termed 
him a Catholic, others a heretic, others a Siy^u^rrov* a person of a 
double tongue, or wavering faith, it is incumbent on us to inquire to 
which opinion Ave should chiefly assent. Of the law it is an inva- 
riable rule, to adopt, in doubtful cases, the more lenient opinion as 
the safer alternative. Besides, since all the westerns, St. Jerome ex- 
cepted, have entertained honourable sentiments relative to Eusebius, 
and since the Galilean church has enrolled! him in the catalogue of 
saints, it is questionless preferable to assent to the judgment of our 

* See Socrates, lib. 1. c. 23. 

f As may be learned from Victorius Aquitanus, the Martyrology of Usuardus, 
and from others. 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xxi 

. fathers, than to that of the eastern schismatics. In short, whose au- 
thority ought to be more decisive in this matter than that of the 
bishops of Rome ? But Galesius, in his work on the Two Natures, 
has recounted our Eusebius amongst the catholic writers, and has 
quoted two authorities out of his books. Pope Pelagius,* too, terms 
him the most honourable amongst historians, and pronounces him to 
be free from every taint of heresy, notwithstanding he had highly 
eulogized heretical Origen. Some, however, may say, that since the 
easterns were better acquainted with Eusebius, a man of their own 
language, a preference should be given, in this case, to their judg- 
ment. Even amongst these, Eusebius does not want those, So- 
cratest and Gelasius Cyzicenus± for example, who entertained a 
favourable opinion concerning him. But if the judgment of the 
Seventh Oecumenical Synod be opposed to any inclination in his fa- 
vour, our answer is ready. The faith of Eusebius was not the sub- 
ject of that synod's debate, but the worship of images. In order to 
the subversion of which, when the opponents that had lately assem- 
bled in the imperial city, had produced evidence out of Eusebius's 
letter to Constantia, and laid the greatest stress thereon, the fathers 
of the Seventh Synod, to invalidate the authority of that evidence, 
exclaimed that Eusebius was an Arian. But this was done merely 
casually, from the impulse of the occasion, and hati-ed of the letter, 
not advisedly, or from a previous investigation of the charge. They 
produce some passages, it is true, from Eusebius, to insinuate that he 
was favourable to the Arian hypothesis ; but they avoid all discrimina- 
tion between what Eusebius wrote prior to the Nicene Council, and 
what he wrote afterwards, which, questionless, ought to have been 
done as essential to a just decision relative to Eusebius's faith. In 
short, nothing written by Eusebius before that synod is fairly charge- 
able in this respect, against him. Eusebius's letter to Alexander, con- 
taining his intercession with that prelate for Arius, was of course, 
written before that council. The affirmation, therefore, of the fathers 
of the Seventh Synod, notwithstanding it has the semblance of the 
highest authority, seems rather to have the character of temerity and 
premature judgment, than to be the verdict of a synod derived from 
a judicial investigation of the cause. The Greeks may assume the 

* In Epist. Tertia ad Eliam Aqueleiensem et alios Episcopos Istri. 
\ See his Defence of him, in book 2. chap. 21. 
4= De Synod. Nicaena, book 2. chap, 1. 



xxii LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. 

liberty to think as they please concerning Eusebius, and to term him 
an Arian, or a favourer of that heresy ; .but who can patiently endure 
St. Jerome, who, not content with calling him heretic and Arian, fre- 
quendy terms him the ring-leader of that faction ? Can he be justly 
termed a ring-leader of the Arians, who, after the Nicene Council, 
always condemned their opinions ? Let his books De Ecclesiastica 
Theologia be perused, which he wrote against Marcellus long after 
the Nicene Council ; and we shall find what we have affirmed, that 
he condemned those who asserted that the Son of God was made of 
things not existing ; and that there was a time when he existed not. 
Athanasius, likewise, in his letter relative to the decrees of the Nicene 
Council, attests the same fact concerning Eusebius, in the following 
words : " In this, truly, he was unfortunate : that he might clear himself, 
however, of the imputation, he ever afterwards opposed the Arians, 
particularly since their denial of the pre-existence of the Son of God 
applied equally to his conception or incarnation." With this testi- 
mony, too, Eusebius was favoured by Athanasius, notwithstanding 
the personal diflferences between them. But St. Jerome, who had no 
cause of enmity against Eusebius, who had profited so liberally by 
his writings, who had translated his Chronological Canon, and his 
Book de Locis Hebraicis, into Latin, brands, notwithstanding, Euse- 
bius with a calumny, which even his most malignant enemies never 
fastened on him. The reason of this we cannot conjecture, except 
it is, that St. Jerome, in consequence of his enmity to Origen, per- 
sisted in an unqualified persecution of all that maintained his opinions, 
particularly Eusebius. 

On the other hand, we do not conceal the fact, that Eusebius, 
though he cannot be deservedly esteemed a ring-leader of the Arian 
faction, yet after the Nicene Council, was perpetually conversant with 
the principals of that party, and, together with them, opposed the 
catholic bishops, as Eustathius, and Athanasius, the most strenuous 
advocates for the adoption of the term 'o/^oouo-io,. Though Eusebius 
always asserted the eternity of the Son of God, against the Arians, 
yet in his disapproval of that word,* he seems censurable. It is cer- 
tain that he never made use of that term, either in his books against 
Marcellus, or in his orations against Sabellius. Nay, in his Second 
Book against Sabellius, he expressly declares, that since that word is 
not in the Scriptures, it is not satisfactory to him. On this occasion, 

* Viz. 'ojMoour*p-5, 



LIFE OF EUSEBIUS. xxm 

he speaks to the following effect : "As not inquiring into truths 
which admit of investigation, is indolence, so prying into others, 
where the scrutiny is inexpedient, is audacity. Into what truths ought 
we then to search ? Those which we find recorded in the Scriptures. 
But what we do not find recorded there, let us not search after. For 
had the knowledge of them been incumbent on us, the Holy Spirit 
would doubtless have placed them there." Shortly after, he says : 
*' Let us not hazard ourselves in such a risk, but speak safely ; and 
let not any thing that is written be blotted out." And in the end of 
his oration, he thus expresses himself: " Speak what is written, and 
the strife will be abandoned." In which passages, Eusebius, no 
doubt, alludes to the w^ord 'o^oou<r.o;. 

Finally, we now advert to the testimonies of the ancients concern- 
ing Eusebius. Here one thing is to be observed, namely, however 
various the opinions of men have been, relative to the accuracy 
of the religious sentiments of Eusebius, all however, have unani- 
mously esteemed him as a person of the most profound learning. To 
this we have to mention one solitary exception, Joseph Scaliger, who 
within the memory of our fathers, impelled by the current of teme- 
rity, and relish for vituperation, endeavoured to filch from Eusebius 
those literary honours, which even his adversaries never dared to im- 
pugn. Scaliger's words,* we have inserted amongst the testimonies 
of the ancients, not as any proof of our value of his judgment on 
this point, but for the accommodation of those desirous of knowing 
them, and with the design that his unwarrantable detraction might 
meet with the exposure it deserved ; who having resolved to write a 
commentary on the Chronological Canon of Eusebius, does not hesi- 
tate to arraign St. Jerome himself, because he speaks of Eusebius as 
a most learned character. On Scaliger's opinion, we had at first de- 
termined to bestow a more ample refutation ; but this we shall defer, 
until more leisure on the one hand, or a more urgent claim on the 
part of the reader, on the other, shaU again call our attention to the 
subject. 

* See Scaliger's Elench. Trihaeres. chap. 27 ; and book 6 de Emend. Temp, 
diap. 1, about the end : and his Animadversions on Eusebius's Chronicle, page 8. 



PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR. 



When the proposition was started, to issue a new translation 
of the present work, the question no doubt frequently arose, Cui 
bono ? Have we not ecclesiastical histories enough, and do not 
these give us all the information that we can reasonably expect, 
presented too in a form and style which is not likely to be sur- 
passed by any age? Many may here have thought of the judi- 
cious and learned Mosheim, or of the popular Milner, some per- 
haps of the voluminous Schroeckh, and Fleury,* whose researches 
into primitive ages have condensed the labours of their predeces- 
sors. Some, indeed, who, in distinct and separate works, have 
confined their histories to the three first centuries of the church, 
as Mosheim in his Commentary de Rebus Christianis ante Con- 
stantinum, Walchii Historia Ecclesiastica Novi Testamenti, and 
others of less notoriety, might seem to preclude the necessity . of 
any additional aids, or of recurring to the fountains whence they 
drew. But whatever be the superiority of modern ecclesiastical 
history, however justly it may represent the times recorded, it 
cannot give us the spirit of these times without the authors from 
which it is derived. It cannot, therefore, supersede the necessity 
of examining the same ground in the express statement of an 
original or primitive writer. 

It will not, therefore, be pronounced an indifiference to the supe- 
rior literature of our own age, when we hold up to view a produc- 
tion of ages long passed away. Every age has its distinctive 
features, its advantages as well as defects ; ours may, without arro- 
gance, claim the character of more systematic precision in every de- 
partment of learning. It has been reserved for this age, under 
Providence, by whose operations the human mind has attained an 
unprecedented expansion, to reduce the accumulated materials of 

* Schroeckh has written an Ecclesiastical History in forty-two octavo, and Fleury 
in twenty quarto volumes ; the former in German, the latter in French. 

XXV • 



XXVI PREFACE. 

the past, to their correlative positions, to compress them into space 
that brings them more within our grasp, and by rejecting the 
superfluous, and digesting the essential, to enable us to traverse 
the vast ground of human attainment w^ith pleasure and profit. 

The author, however, whose history is here presented to the 
English reader, in order to be duly estimated, must not be mea- 
sured by a standard like this. To be appreciated, he must be 
measured by his own times. Neither are we to expect of him 
the condensed proportions, the judicious selections, and the com- 
prehensive distribution of materials, that mark the productions 
of the scientific historian ; nor was it the intention of our author. 
If we may be allowed to judge from the work itself, his object 
appears more hke furnishing the materials, which himself or the 
future historian should handle with a more masterly hand or a 
more enlarged view. The work, therefore, abounds with ex- 
tracts from the writers that flourished in the early ages of the 
church, in which our author presents either a striking event, ex- 
pressions of sentiments or doctrine, to illustrate the religious as- 
pect of times and places, and by the express testimony of another, 
perhaps often obviates the odium which would devolve upon his 
own narrative. Hence the history contains rather accounts of 
particular churches, than a history of the church generally, and 
is more like detached incidents scattered in memoirs of the in- 
dividuals that successively rise and pass away before us. 

Our author, as the first that professedly entered the ground, has 
been justly called the father of ecclesiastical history. Priority gives 
him a just claim to the title. If his performance be examined by 
all the tests, which would be applied to the scientific historians 
this praise would indeed be awarded to a prominent name of 
modern date. But Eusebius is the first, and the only historian 
of the church bordering on primitive times. No just parallel 
therefore can be drawn between the Ecclesiastical History here 
translated, and the scientific labours of the present day. The 
business of the modern historian, is to survey, with comprehensive 
eye, to digest, to reduce to proper dimensions, and with a skilful 
hand to mould, his materials into the form of pleasing yet faithful 
narration ; that of the primitive historian, was rather to trans- 



PREFACE. xxvu 

cribe what was most important from the existing documents of 
the day. 

Our author has the praise even from the hypercritical Scahger, 
of being a man who had made extensive use of the historical 
sources of his day. Si eruditissimus vocandus, says he, qui multa 
legit, sane neme iUi hanc laudem invidere potest. This writer does 
not, indeed, allow him all the qualifications of an historian, to use 
his own words, judicium cum multa lectione, but the selections 
that he has left to posterity are nevertheless invaluable. He was 
at least faithful to his purpose, by culling, as he himself expresses 
it, (6)$ av ex XoytxQV Xsi^QVidv) the appropriate extracts from an- 
cient WTiters. 

In making this selection, we have only to regret that he did 
not give us more of the distinguished writers of those ages, and 
thus supplied, in some measure, the loss of their works. In the 
testimony thus preserved, however, we have a body of evidence, 
both to the existing events of the day, and to the truth of those 
Scriptures which, without the formality of a regular system of 
proof, carries its conviction to the mind. Whether this testimony 
appeared in a plain or polished style, whether simple or embel- 
lished, the great object of our author is the evidence that it fur- 
nishes, and which theiefore he gives us, as one who, by the ad- 
vantages of his situation, whilst Christianity w^as yet in the fresh- 
ness of its morning sun, could arrest and seize some of its fleeting 
images, ere they were erased from the memory of man. 

And in order to let these images appear, Eusebius with his tes- 
timony must be suffered to speak for himself His history, inde- 
pendently of its practical utihty and its hterary store, is unques- 
tionably the most interesting and the most important work that 
appeared in the first ages of the church. A work adapted to all 
ages and classes, to furnish materials of reflection to the man of 
letters, to supply the retired Christian with examples of unreserved 
devotion and sacrifice to duty, and to furnish all, some original 
views of primitive times, at the hand of one who may be pro- 
nounced a primitive man. 

In undertaking the present work, the translator was influenced 
by a firm persuasion of its utility, and the necessity of a new^ ver- 



xxviii PREFACE. 

sion. A more general circulation of primitive works, whether 
by copious extracts, or by entire translations, appears to be one 
of the best means at least, of giving a primitive tone to modern 
Christianity. And though we might not conceive ourselves bound 
to acknowledge every thing as biblical, merely because it was 
primitive, yet were it possible that we could ascertain the real 
state of Christianity in every respect as it was then, doubtless it 
would prove a salutary check upon many of our errors.* 

To show that we ai-e not singular on this subject, we here give 
the sentiments of a foreign journal, which will never be regarded 
as enthusiastic by those who are at all acquainted with its cha- 
racter. " Independently of the importance of studying the fa- 
thers with respect to doctrine and ecclesiastical history, and even 
with respect to exegesis, the perusal of their writings serves, 
among other objects, to awaken and excite religious views and 
ideas in the minds of the young, much more than any course 
of instruction, however logically exact, and in accordance with 
the rules of hermeneutics. And we are convinced that the ex- 
cessive abuse that has been of late made of manuals, journals, 
magazines, &c., for clergymen, which for the last twenty years, 
and longer, has been the order of the day in many places, and by 
which the spirit of young clergymen has been warped and per- 
verted to indolence and carelessness, would not have made such 
inroads, if, together with the Holy Scriptures, which should un- 
questionably form the basis of every discourse, the study of the 
fathers had also been zealously encouraged."! 

It was well observed by a modern philosopher, that if every 
age had had its Aristotle, philosophy would long since have 
reached its climax ; and we may observe with regard to ecclesi- 

* The importance of a more general acquaintance with the opinions and doc- 
trines prevalent in the church, before the Council of Nice, is obvious. No attempt, 
hoveever, has as yet been made to bring them into such general circulation, that all 
could have and read them, laity as well as clergy. With a view to supply this de- 
fect, among others, the translator has projected a publication to appear periodically, 
embracing copious extracts from the fathers on doctrine, and dissertations in refer- 
ence to the Archaeology of Christianity, with the title Repertory of Primitive 
Theology. See the Prospectus of this pubUcation. 

t Hall. Allgem. Lit. Zeitung. No. 10. 1817. 



PREFACE. XXIX 

astical history, that if every period in primitive times had had 
its Eusebius, we should, besides his own, be in possession of an 
amount of ecclesiastical information at this day, that would sub- 
serve the most salutary purposes. What our author, however, 
has secured from the wrecks of time, only leaves us room to re- 
gret what we have not. As to the matter, therefore, which 
the history of Eusebius embraces, no apology is necessary for 
presenting this to the public. It belongs to the archoeology of 
Christianity ; and therefore, to Christians at least must appear in 
an interesting light. 

As to the manner in which this is presented, various opinions 
will doubtless prevail. The critic will form his opinion of Euse- 
bius from the original, and there he will perceive what cannot 
always be made to appear in a translation. One thing will strike 
him on the first survey, that the style of an ecclesiastical writer, 
three centuries after the birth of Christ, is far different from the 
style that prevailed three centuries before, and that the Greek 
authors, in the age of Constantino, are not the authors of the age 
of Alexander. Our Eusebius is not without his beauties, but 
they are so rarely scattered, that we can hardly allow him an 
eminent rank, as a writer, although his subject may be offered 
as his apology. His use of w^ords is sometimes "without sufficient 
precision, which subjects him occasionally to ambiguity, and his 
sentences are sometimes so involved as to require the hand of 
critical dissection. His periods, too, are sometimes of enormous 
length, and by their copious fulness incline much to the pleonastic 
and hyperbolical. We are not here to expect the uniform suavity 
of an Herodotus, the terse brevity of a Thucydides, though we 
may occasionally meet v^^ith features that would not be over- 
looked as elegant even in these fathers of history. From the, 
great variety of authors that he quotes, our author indeed, could 
not aim at the same kind of excellence, neither are his quota- 
tions from others like those of Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, and 
others, for the mere purpose of embellishment or illustration, but 
for positive information ; and, therefore, they assume all the sim- 
plicity of a plain reference to authority. In a. work so unosten- 
tatious, it would be absurd to measure our author by a standard 



XXX PREFACE. 

he never adopted, as a production, which like those of the fathers 
of history, should contend for the prize as a literary performance. 
The only part of the work that could perhaps aspire to this 
honour, is contained in the last book, where he is altogether the 
panegyrist, and where he has left us, perhaps, what may be re- 
garded as one of his most elaborate, if not one of his happiest 
performances as an orator. 

Whether the present translator has succeeded in presenting his 
author to the pubHc in a costume that shall appear worthy of the 
original, must be left to the judgment of others. He is not so con- 
fident, as to presume his labour is here immaculate, and a more 
frequent revision of the work may suggest improvements which 
have thus far escaped him. Some allowances are also due to a 
work like this, which may not obtain in those of a different de- 
scription. The translator does not stand upon the same ground 
as one who renders a work of elegance and taste, from profane 
antiquity. The latter leaves more scope for the display of genius 
and taste. The great object of the former is to give a faithful 
transcript of his author's statement, that the reader may derive, 
if possible, the same impression that he would from the original, 
in case it were his vernacular language. He is not at liberty 
to improve his author, whatever may be the occasional sugges- 
tions of elegance or taste, for there is scarcely any such improve- 
ment but what involves the fidelity of the version. The more 
experienced reader and critic may, perhaps, discover instances 
where the translator might perhaps have been more easy, with- 
out sacrificing much of the meaning ; and the present version is 
not without passages where perhaps a little liberty might have 
obviated an apparent stiffness in the style. But the translator 
has some times preferred the latter, to what appeared a sacrifice 
of the sense.* 

The office of a translator, like that of a lexicographer, is an 
ungrateful office. Men who have no conception of the requi- 
sites for such a task, who measure it by the same rough standard 

* Among some of the apparent anomalies of the translation, may perhaps be num- 
bered many of the passages from Scripture. It will be recollected these are trans- 
lated from our author, who quotes the Alexandrian version. 



PREFACE. XXXI 

that they do a piece of manual labour, are apt to suppose he has 
nothing to do but to travel on from word to word, and that it 
amounts at last to scarcely more than a transcription of what is 
already written in his own mind. In the estimate which is thus 
made, there is Utile credit given, for the necessary adaptation 
of the style and phraseology to that of the original. No allow- 
ance for that degree of judgment, which the interpreter must con- 
stantly exercise in order to make his version tell what its original 
says. And yet, with all this, there is generally discrimination 
enough to mark what may be happily expressed ; but by a sin- 
gular perversion, such merit is sure to be assigned to the original 
v/ork, whilst the defects are generally charged to the account of 
the translator. Some, ignorant of the limits of the translator's 
office, even expect him to give perfection to his author's deficien- 
cies, and if he fails in this, he is in danger of having them heaped 
upon himself 

To preclude any unwarrantable expectations, the translator 
does not pretend to more in the present work, than to give a 
faithful transcript of the sense of his author. Occasionally, he 
thinks he has expressed that sense with more perspicuity than his 
original, and wherever the ambiguity seemed to justify it, it has 
been done, not with a view to improve his author, but to prevent 
mistaking his meaning. 

The present version is from the accurate Greek text published 
by Valesius,* a learned civilian of the Galican church. The 
most noted Latin versions besides that of Valesius, are those 
of Rufinus, Musculus, Christophorson, and GriucEus. Curterius 
also published a translation, but it is rather a revision of Christo- 
phorson. 

Stroth among the Germans,! ^i"id Cousin among the French, 
appear to be the latest that have given versions in the modern 
languages. The first translation in English was made by Han- 
mer, 1584, which passed through five editions. A translation by 
T. Shorting was published more than a century afterwards, and 

* The best edition of Valesius is that published at Cambridge by Reading — the 
edition used in the present work. 

f There is also an abridged translation in German, in Rcesler's Bibliothek der 
Kirchcnvseter. 



xxxii PREFACE. 

this last, with the exception of an abridgment by Parker, is the 
best translation hitherto extant in the EngHsh language. 

The present translator originally contemplated merely a revi- 
sion or improvement of the last English version, but a slight ex- 
amination will satisfy any one, that such labour would be equi- 
valent to that of an original translation itself, whilst it could at 
best present little better than a mutilated aspect. The present, 
therefore, is a version entirely new. It has been finished in 
the midst of other vocations, and the author expected to have 
brought it to a state of readiness, for the press, before or about 
the beginning of the past winter. At the commencement of 
the work he anticipated a period of leisure, which would have 
enabled him to meet this expectation fully. But this period of 
expected leisure was absorbed by care and solicitude, amid sick- 
ness in his family, whilst his own health was but little calculated 
for the necessary eflfbrt. 

It was one of the translator's original intentions to make the 
work more useful by the addition of many notes. Eusebius 
admits of a constant commentary, and there are some parts of 
the work, which besides mere illustration, require a separate dis- 
cussion. Valesius has interspersed notes, which are more ex- 
tensive than the whole work. They are mostly verbal criti- 
cisms, and refer to the various readings of the Greek text, and 
as such have but little interest for the general reader. Who- 
ever wishes to consult these, will find the most of them trans- 
lated in Shorting's Eusebius. The few notes that arc scattered 
through the following pages, are by the present translator. He 
was diverted from his original plan of commenting on his author, 
partly by an apprehension of swelling the work ; chiefly however, 
by a conviction that the time under existing circumstances would 
be better employed in a more diligent revision, and lastly, because 
he contemplates a prosecution of the author's historical works, 
in which abundant room and materials will be furnished for this 
purpose. In the mean time, the work is committed to the hands 
of the public, and in the quaint but expressive words of the 
oldest English translator of Eusebius : " If aught be well done, 
give the praise to God, let the pains be the translator's, and the 
profit the reader's." — Hanmer. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK!.— Pages 13— 47. 

Chapter L — Subject of the work, 13 

Chap. II. — Summary view of the 
pre-existence and divinity of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, - - 15 

Keasons why the gospel was not 
proclaimed sooner, ------18 

Chap. III. — The name Jesus, as 
also that of Christ, was both knowni 
and honoured from ancient times, by 
the inspired prophets, 21 

Chap. IV. — The reUgion announced 
by Christ among all nations, was nei- 
ther unexpected nor strange, - - 25 

Chap. V, — The times of our Sa- 
viour's manifestation among men, - 28 

Chap. VI. — About the time of our 
Lord, agreeably to prophecy, those 
rulers ceased that had formerly go- 
verned the nation of the Jews by re- 
gular succession; and Herod was the 
first foreigner that reigned over them, 29 

Chap. VII. — On the discrepancy 
which is supposed to exist in the gos- 
pels, respecting the genealogy of 

Christ, 31 

Chap. VIII. — Herod's cruelty 
against the infants, and his wretched 
end, 35 

Chap. IX.— Of the times of Pilate, 38 

Chap. X. — The high priests of 
the Jews, under whom Christ promul- 
gated his doctrines, 39 

Chap. XL — The testimonies re- 
specting John the Baptist and Christ, 41 

Chap. XII.— Of the disciples of 
our Lord, --------42 

Chap. Xni. — Narrative respecting 
the prince of Edessa, 43 

BOOK n.— Pages 48—81. 

Chapter I. — The course pursued 
by the apostles after the ascension of 
Christ, 48 

Chap. II. — How Tiberius was af- 



Page 
fected, when informed by Pilate re- 
specting Christ, -51 

Chap. III. — How the Christian 
doctrine spread throughout the whole 

world, 52 

j Chap. IV. — Caius (CaUgula) after 
the death of Tiberius, appointed 
Agrippa king of the Jews, after pu- 
nishing Herod with perpetual exile, 53 

Chap. V. — Philo was sent on an 
embassy to Caius, in behalf of the 
Jews, ----- 54 

Chap. VI. — What evils overwhelm- 
ed the Jews, after their presumption 
against Christ, -55 

Chap. VII. — How Pilate destroyed 
himself, - -57 

Chap. VIII.— The famine that 
happened in the reign of Claudius, - ib. 

Chap. IX. — The martyrdom of the 
apostle James, -------58 

Chap. X. — Herod Agrippa perse- 
cuting the apostles, immediately ex- 
perienced the divine judgment, - - 59 

Chap. XI. — Concerning the im- 
postor Theudas and his followers, - 61 

Chap. XII. — Helen, queen of the 
Oschcenians, - - ib. 

Chap. XIII. — Simon Magus, - - 62 

Chap. XIV. — The preaching of 
Peter in the city of Rome, - - - 63 

Chap. XV. — The gospel according 
to Mark, 64 

Chap. XVI. — Mark first proclaim- 
ed Christianity to the inhabitants of 
Egypt, 65 

Chap. XVII. — The account given 
by Philo respecting the Ascetics of 
Egypt, 66 

Chap. XVni.— The books of Philo 
that have come down to us, - - - 70 

Chap. XIX. — The calamity which 
befel the Jews at Jerusalem, on the 
day of the passover, 72 

Chap. XX.— The deeds done at 
Jerusalem in the reign of Nero, - ib. 
xsxiii 



XXXIV 



CONTENTS. 



Page] 

Chap. XXI. — The Egyptian men- | 
tioned in the Acts of the Apostles, - 73 

Chap. XXII. — Paul being sent pri- 
soner from Judea to Rome, after his 
defence, was absolved from all crime, 74 

Chap. XXIII.— The martyrdom of 
James, who was called the brother of 
the Lord, .---75 

Chap. XXIV. — Annianus was ap- 
pointed the first bishop of Alexan- 
dria, axter Mark, 79 

Chap. XXV. — The persecution 
under Nero, in which Paul and Peter 
were honoured with martyrdom in 
the cause of religion at Rome, - - ib. 

Chap. XXVI.— The Jews were 
afflicted with innumerable evils, and 
finally commenced a war with the 
Romans, ----., 81 

BOOK III.— Pages 82—127. 

Chapter I, — The parts of the 
world where Christ was preached by 
the apostles, 82 

Chap. II. — The first that presided 
over the church at Rome, - - - ib. 

Chap. III.— Of the Epistles of the 
apostles, 83 

Chap. IV. — The first succession of 
the apostles, 84 

Chap. V. — The last siege of the 
Jews after Christ, 85 

Chap. VI. — The famine which op- 
pressed the Jews, 87 

Chap, VII. — The predictions of 
Christ, 92 

Chap. VIII. — The signs that pre- 
ceded the war, 94 

Chap. IX. — Of Josephus and the 
works he has left, 96 

Chap. X. — The manner in which 
Josephus mentions the Holy Scrip- 
tures, 97 

Chap. XI. — Simeon ruled the 
church of Jerusalem after James, - 99 

Chap. XII. — Vespasian commands 
the descendants of David to be sought, ib. 

Chap. XIII. — Anencletus, the se- 
cond bishop of Rome, 100 

Chap. XIV. — Avilius, the second 
bishop of Alexandria, ib. 

Chap. XV.— Clement, the third 
bishop of Rome, ib. 

Chap. XVI.— The Epistle of Cle- 
ment, « - - 101 



Page 

Chap. XVII. — The persecution of 
the Christians under Domitian, - - 101 

Chap. XVIIL— Of John the apos- 
tle, and the Revelation, ... - ib. 

Chap. XIX, — Domitian commands 
the posterity of David to be slain, - 102 

Chap. XX.— Of the relatives of 
our Lord, ib. 

Chap. XXI.— Cerdori, the third 
bishop of Alexandria, - - - - 104 

Chap. XXII. — Ignatius, the second 
bishop of Antioch, ib. 

Chap. XXIII. — NaiTative respect- 
ing the apostle John, ib. 

Chap. XXIV.— The order of the 
Gospels, -.-- 107 

Chap. XXV.— The sacred Scrip- 
tures acknowledged as genuine, and 
those that are not, 110 

Chap. XXVI. — Menander the im- 
postor, Ill 

Chap. XXVII.— The heresy of the 
Ebionitcs, 112 

Chap. XXVIII.— Cerinthus the 
Hcrcsiarch, - - - 113 

Chap. XXIX.— Nicolaus and his 
followers, T--114 

Chap. XXX.— The apostles that 
lived in marriage, - - - - - -115 

Chap. XXXI.— The death of John 
and Philip, - - - ' 116 

Chap. XXXII. — The martyrdom 
of Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, - 117 

Chap. XXXni.— Trajan forbids 
the Christians to be sought after, - 119 

Chap. XXXIV.— Euarestus, the 
fourth bishop of the church at Rome, 120 

Chap. XXXV. — Justus, the third 
bishop of Jerusalem, - - - - - ib. 

Chap. XXXVI.— The epistles of 
Ignatius, _ _ _ j^. 

Chap. XXXVII.— The preaching 
evangelists that were yet living in 
that age, 123 

Chap. XXXVIIL— The epistle of 
Clement, and those that are falsely 
ascribed to him, 124 

Chap. XXXIX.— The writings of 
Papias, --------- ii. 

BOOK IV.— Pages 128—167. 

Chapter I. — The bishops of Rome 
and Alexandria, in the reign of Trajan, 128 

Chap. 11. — The calamities of the 
Jews about this time, ----- if,. 



CONTENTS. 



XXXV 



Page 
Chap. III. — The authors that wrote 
m the defence of the faith, in the 
reign of Adrian, 129 

Chap. IV. — The bishops of Alex- 
andria and Rome, under the same 
emperor, 130 

Chap. V. — The bishops of Jerusa- 
lem, from the period of our Saviour 
until these times, ib. 

Chap. VI. — The last siege of the 
Jews under Adrian, - - - - -131 

Chap. Vn. — Those who were con- 
sidered leaders in false doctrine at 
this time, 132 

Chap. Vni. — The ecclesiastical 
writers then flourishing, - - - - 135 

Chap. IX. — The epistle of Ha- 
drian, forbidding the Christians to be 
punished without trial, - - - - 136 

Chap. X. — The bishops of Rome 
and Alexandria, in the reign of An- 
tonine, 137 

Chap. XI. — The heresiarchs of 
these times, - - - ib. 

Chap. XII. — The apology of Jus- 
tin, addressed to Antoninus, - - - 1 39 

Chap. XIII.— The epistle of Anto- 
nine, to the assembly of Asia, respect- 
ing our doctrine, 140 

Chap. XIV. — Circumstances relat- 
ed of Polycarp, an apostoUc man, - 141 

Chap. XV. — The martyrdom of Po- | 
lycarp, with others at Smyrna, - - 143 

Chap. XVI. — How Justin the phi- 
losopher sufiered martyrdom, assert- 
ing the doctrines of Christ, - - - 150 

Chap. XVII. — The martjrrs men 
tioned by Justin in his books, - - 152 

Chap. XVin.— The books of Jus 
tin that have come down to us, - - 154 

Chap. XIX. — Those that presided 
over the churches of Rome and Alex- 
andria, in the reign of Vcrus, - - 156 

Chap. XX.— The bishops of An- 
tioch, ib. 

Chap. XXI. — The ecclesiastical 
writers that flourished in these times, ib. 

Chap. XXII. — Of Hegesippus, and 
those whom he mentions, - -. - 157 

Chap. XXIIL— Of Dionysius, bi- 
shop of Corinth, and his epistles, , - 158 

Chap. XXIV.— Of Theophilus, 
bishop of Antioch, - - --- -161 

Chap. XXV.— Of Philip and Mo- 
destus, ib. 



Page 

Chap. XXVI.— Of Melito, and the 
circumstances he records, - - - 162 

Chap. XXVn.— Of Apollinaris 
bishop of Hierapolis, 165 

Chap. XXVIII.— Of Musanus and 
his works, ib. 

Chap. XXIX.— The heresy of Ta- 
tianus, ib. 

Chap. XXX. — Of Bardesanes, the 
Syrian, and the works of his extant, 167 

BOOK v.— Pages 168—216. 

Chapter I. — The number and suf- 
ferings of those that suifered for the 
faith in Gaul, 169 

Chap. II.— Those that had fallen 
away, kindly restored by the pious 
martyrs, 180 

Chap. III. — The vision that ap- 
peared to Attains the martyr, in a 
dream, 182 

Chap. IV. — The martrys commend 
Irenaeus in their epistles, - - - - 183 

Chap. V. — God sent rain from hea- 
ven to Marcus Aurelius, the emperor, 
at the prayers of our brethren, - - 184 

Chap. VI. — Catalogue of the bi- 
shops of Rome, 185 

Chap. VII. — Miracles were per- ■ 
formed in those times by the believers, 186 

Chap. VIII. — The statement of 
Irenseus respecting the sacred Scrip- 
tures, 187 

Chap. IX. — The bishops under 
Commodus, 190 

Chap. X. — Of Pantaenus the phi- 
losopher, ib. 

Chap. XI. — Clement of Alexandria, 191 

Chap. XII. — The bishops of Jeru- 
salem, 192 

Chap. Xm.— Of Rhode, and the 
dissension occasioned by Marcion, 
which he records, ------ ib. 

Chap. XIV.— The false prophets 
of the Phrygians, - - - - - -194 

Chap. XV.— Of the schism of 
Blastus, at Rome, ib. 

Chap. XVI.— The affairs of Mon- 
tanus, and his false prophets, - - 195 

Chap. XVn.— Of Miltiades and 
his works, 199 

Chap. XVIIL— Apollonius also re- 
futes the Phrygian heresy, and those 
whom he has mentioned, - - - - 200 

Chap. XIX.=-=The opinion of Se- 



B 



XX XVI 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
rapion respecting the heresy of the 
Phrygians, 203 

Chap. XX.— The writings of Ire- 
nseus against the schismatics at Rome, to. 

Chap. XXI. — The martyrdom of 
ApoUonius, at Rome, 205 

Chap. XXII.— The bishops that 
flourished at this time, - . - - 206 

Chap. XXIII. — The question then 
agitated respecting the passover, - 207 

Chap. XXIV.— The dissension of 
the churches in Asia, 208 

Chap. XXV. — All agree to one 
opinion respecting the passover, - 211 

Chap. XXVI.— The elegant works 
of Irenaeus that have come down to us, 212 

Chap. XXVII.— The works of 
others that flourished at the time, - ib. 

Chap. XXVIII.— Those that fol- 
lowed the heresy of Artemon, in the 
beginning. Their character and con- 
duct ; and their attempt at corrupt- 
ing the Scriptures, 213 

BOOK VI.— Pages 217—270. 

Chapter I. — The persecution un- 
der Severus,- ------- 217 

Chap. n. — The education of Ori- 
gen, from his earliest youth, - - - ib. 

Chap. III. — When a very young 
man he preached the gospel, - - - 220 

Chap. IV. — The number of his 
catechumens that suffered martyrdom, 223 

Chap. V. — Of Potamiaena, - - - ib. 

Chap. VI. — Clement of Alexandria,225 

Chap. VII. — The historian Judas, ib. 

Chap. VIII.— The resolute act of 
Origen, 226 

Chap. IX. — ^The miracle of Nar- 
cissus, 227 

Chap. X. — ^The bishops in Jeru- 
salem, 229 

Chap. XI.— Of Alexander, - - 230 

Chap. Xn. — Serapion, and the 
writings ascribed to him, - - - 231 

Chap. XIII.— The works of Cle- 
ment, 232 

Chap. XIV.— The works that Cle- 
ment mentions, 233 

Chap. XV.— Of Heraclas, - - 235 

Chap. XVI.— The great study 
which Origen devoted to the Holy 
Scriptures, ib. 

Chap. XVII.— Of the translator 
Symmachus, 236 



Page 

Chap. XVIII.— Of Ambrose, - - 237 

Chap. XIX. — The accounts given 
of Origen by others, ib. 

Chap. XX.— The works of the 
writers of the day still extant, - - 241 

Chap. XXI.— The bishops that 
were noted at this time, - - - - 242 

Chap. XXII.— The works of Hip- 
polytus, that have reached us, - - ib. 

Chap. XXIII. — Origen's zeal, and 
his elevation to the priesthood, - - 243 

Chap. XXIV.— The exhortations 
he gave at Alexandria, - - - - 244 

Chap. XXV. — His review of the 
collective Scriptures, ib. 

Chap. XXVI. — Heraclas succeeds 
to the episcopate of Alexandria, - 247 

Chap. XXVII.— How the bishops 
regarded hirn, ------- j^. 

Chap. XXVIIL— The persecution 
under Maximinus, 243 

Chap. XXIX.— Of Fabianus, who 
was remarkably appointed bishop of 
Rome, by divine communication, - ib. 

Chap.XXX.— The pupils of Origen,249 

Chap. XXXI.— Of Africanus, - 250 

Chap. XXXII.— The commenta- 
ries that Origen wrote in Palestine, - ib. 

Chap. XXXIII.— The error of Be- 
ryllus, 251 

Chap. XXXIV.— Of Philip Cesar, 252 

Chap. XXXV. — Dionysius suc- 
ceeds Heraclas in the episcopate, - ib. 

Chap. XXXVI.— Other works 
written by Origen, 253 

Chap. XXXVII.— The dissension 
of the Arabians, ------ z6. 

Chap. XXXVm.— The heresy of 
the Helcesaites, ------- 254 

Chap. XXXIX. — The persecution 
of Decius, ib. 

Chap. XL. — What happened to 
Dionysius, 255 

Chap. XLI. — Of those who suf- 
fered martyrdom at Alexandria, - - 257 

Chap. XLII. — Other accounts 
given by Dionysius, 261 

Chap. XLIIL- Of Novatus, his 
manners and habits, and his heresy, 263 

Chap. XLIV. — Dionysius's ac- 
count of Serapion, ------ 267 

Chap. XLV.— The epistie of Dio- 
nysius to Novatus, 268 

Chap. XLVI. — Other epistles of 
Dionysius, 269 



CONTENTS. 



xxxvii 



Page 
BOOK VII.— Pages 271—316. 

Chapter I. — The great wickedness 
of Decius and Gallus, - - - - 271 

Chap. II. — The bishops of Rome 
at this time, -------- f^. 

Chap. III. — Cyprian, and the bi- 
shops connected with him, maintain- 
ed, that those who had turned from 
heretical error, should be baptized 
again, ---------- 272 

Chap. rV.— The epistles that Dio- 
nysius wrote on this subject, - - - ib. 

Chap. V. — The peace after the per- 
secution, --------- 273 

Chap. VI.— The heresv of Sabel- 
Uus, 274 

Chap. VII. — The execrable error 
of the heretics, the divine vision of 
Dionysius, and the ecclesiastical 
canon given to him, ib. 

Chap. VIII.— The heterodoxy of 
Novatus, 276 

Chap. IX. — The ungodly baptism 
of heretics, - - - ib. 

Chap. X. — Valerian, and the per- 
secution raised by him, - - - - 278 

Chap. XI. — ^The sufferings of Dio- 
nysius, and those in Egypt, - - - 280 

Chap. XII.— The martyrs of Ce- 
sarea of Palestine, - 285 

Chap. XIII.— The peace after Gal- 
lienus, ---------- ib. 

Chap. XIV.— The bishops that 
flourished at this time, . - - - 286 

Chap. XV. — The martyrdom of 
Marinus at Cesarea, ib. 

Chap. XVI. — Some account of 
Astyrius, 287 

Chap. XVn. — ^The miracles of our 
Saviour at Paneas, 288 

Chap. XVIIL— The statue erected 
by a woman having an hemorrhage, ib. 

Chap. XIX. — The episcopal seat 
of James, 289 

Chap. XX.— The epistles of Dio- 
nysius on festivals, in which he gives 
the canon of the passover, - - - 290 

Chap. XXI. — The events that oc- 
curred at Alexandria, ib 

Chap. XXn. — The pestilence 
which then prevailed, 292 

Chap. XXIIL— The reign of Gal- 
lienus, ---- 294 

Chap. XXIV.— Of Nepos, and his 
schism, 295 



Page 
Chap. XXV.— The apocalypse of 
John, 297 

Chap. XXVI.— The epistles of 
Dionysius, -301 

Chap. XXVIL— Paul of Samosata, 
and the heresy introduced by him at 
Antioch, 302 

Chap. XXVIIL— The different bi- 
shops then distinguished, - - - - ib. 

Chap. XXIX.— Paul refuted by a 
certain Malchion, one of the presby- 
ters who had been a sophist, was de- 

303 

Chap. XXX.— The epistle of the 
council against Paul, ----- 304 

Chap. XXXI.— The error of the 
Manichees, which commenced at this 
time, 309 

Chap. XXXII.— Of those distin- 
guished ecclesiastical writers of our 
own day, and which of them survived 
until the destruction of the churches, 310 

BOOK VIII.— Pages 317—348. 

Chapter I. — The events that pre- 
ceded the persecution in our times, - 317 

Chap. II. — The demolition of the 
churches, 319 

Chap. III. — The nature of the 
conflicts endured by the martyrs, in 
the persecution, 320 

Chap. IV. — The illustrious martyrs 
of God, who filled every place with 
the celebrity of their name, and ob- 
tained various crowns of martyrdom 
for their piety, 321 

Chap. V. — The affairs of Nicome- 
dia, 322 

Chap. VI. — Those that were m the 
palace, 323 

Chap. VII.— The Egyptians that 
suffered in Phcenice, 325 

Chap. VIIL— Those who suffered in 
Egypt, - ^ - - 327 

Chap. IX. — Of those in Thebais, tb. 

Chap. X. — The writings of Phi- 
leas, which give an account of the 
martyrs of Alexandria, - - - - 329 

Chap. XL— The events in Phrygia, 332 

Chap. XII. — Of many others, both 
men and women, who suffered in dif- 
ferent ways, -------- 333 

Chap. XIII. — Those prelates that 
evinced the reality of the religion 
they proclaimed with their blood, - 335 



XXXVIll 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Chap. XIV.— The morals of the 
persecutors, 339 

Chap. XV.— The events that hap- 
pened to the heathen, 342 

Chap. XVI.— The change of af- 
fairs for the better, 343 

Chap. XVII. — The revocation of 
the emperors, 344 

BOOK OF MARTYRS. 

Pages 349—378. 

Chapter I. — Procopius, Alpheus, 
and Zaccheus, 349 

Chap. II. — The martyr Romanus, 350 

Chap. III. — Timotheus, Agapius, 
Thecla, and eight others, - - - - 352 

Chap. IV.— Apphianus, - - - 353 

Chap, V. — The martyrs Ulpian 
and ^desius, 357 

Chap. VI. — The martyr Agapius, 358 

Chap. VII.— The martyrs Theodo- 
sia, Domninus, and Auxentius, - - 359 

Chap. VIII. — Other confessors ; 
also Valentina and Paulus, - - - 361 

Chap. IX. — The reneviral of the 
persecution with greater violence. 
Antoninus, Zebina, Germanus, and 
others, 364 

Chap. X. — Petrus Ascetes, Ascle- 
pius the Marcionite, and other mar- 
tyrs, - 367 

Chap. XI. — Of the martyrdom of 
Pamphilus and others, 368 

Chap. XII. — The prelates of the 
church, 374 

Chap. XIII. — Silvanus and John, 
and thirty other martyrs, - - - - 375 

BOOK IX.— Pages 379—402. 

Chapter I. — The pretended relaxa- 
tion, 379 

Chap. II. — The subsequent reverse, 382 
Chap. III. — The new statue erect- 
ed at Antioch, ib. 

Chap, IV. — The decrees against us, 383 
Chap, v.— The false acts, ... 384 
Chap. VI, — Those who suffered 
martyrdom at this time, - - - - ib. 



Page 

Chap. VII. — ^The measures decreed 
against us, and engraved on pillars, 385 

Copy of the translated epistle of 
Maximinus, in answer to the ordinan- 
ces (of the cities) against us, taken 
from the brazen tablet at Tyre, - . 386 

Chap. VIII. — The events that oc- 
curred after these ; famine, pestilence, 
and war, 389 

Chap. IX.— The death of the ty- 
rants, and their expressions before 
their end, 391 

Copy of the translated epistle of 
the tyrant Maximinus, .... 394 

Chap. X. — The oratory of the 
pious emperors, 397 

Copy of the tyrant's ordinance, 
in regard to the Christians, translated 
from the Latin into the Greek, - - 398 

Chap. XI. — The total destruction 
of the enemies of religion, - - - 401 

BOOK X.— Pages 403—439. 

Chapter I. — The peace which 
was granted us by divine interposi- 
tion, 403 

Chap. II. — The restoration of the 
churches, - 404 

Chap. Ill, — The dedications of the 
churches in all places, ----- 405 

Chap. IV. — Panegyric on the 
splendour of our affairs, - - . . 406 

Panegyric on the building of the 
churches, addressed to Paulinus, bi- 
shop of Tyre, - ib. 

Chap. V. — Copies of the imperial 
decrees, 426 

Chap. VI. — Of the property be- 
longing to the Christians, . - .431 

Chap. VII. — The privileges and 
immunities of the clergy, ... 432 

Chap. VIII. — The wickedness 
which Licinius afterwards exhibited, 
and his death, 433 

Chap. IX.— The victory of Con- 
stantine, and the blessings which 
under him accrued to the whole 
Roman world, 437 



THE 
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 

OF 

EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS. 



B O O K I. 

CHAPTER L 

Subject of the present work. 

As it is my purpose to record the successions of the holy apos- 
tles, together with the times since our Saviour, down to the pre- 
sent, to recount how many and important transactions are said to 
have occurred in ecclesiastical history, what individuals in the 
most noted places eminently governed and presided over the 
church, what men also in their respective generations, whether 
with or without their writings, proclaimed the divine word ; to 
describe the character, times and number of those who, stimu- 
lated by the desire of innovation, and advancing to the greatest 
errors, announced themselves leaders in the propagation of false 
opinions, like grievous wolves, unmercifully assaulting the flock 
of Christ. As it is my intention, also,, to describe the calamities 
that swiftly overwhelmed the whole Jewish nation, in consequence 
of their plots against our Saviour ; how often, by what means 
and in what times, the word of God has encountered the hostility 
of the nations ; what eminent persons persevered in contending 
for it through those periods of blood and torture, beside the mar- 
tyrdoms which have been endured in our own times : and after all, 
to show the gracious and benign interposition of our Saviour ; 
these being proposed as the subjects of the present work, I shall 
go back to the very origin and the earliest introduction of the 
dispensation of our liOrd and Saviour the Christ of God. 

13 



14 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

But here, acknowledging that it is beyond my power to present 
the work perfect and unexceptionable, I freely confess it will 
crave indulgence, especially since, as the first of those that have 
entered upon the subject, we are attempting a kind of trackless 
and unbeaten path. Looking up with prayer to God as our 
guide, we, trust indeed, that we shall have the power of Christ as 
our aid, though we are totally unable to find even the bare ves- 
tiges of those who may have travelled the way before us ; unless, 
perhaps, what is only presented in the slight intimations, which 
some in different ways have transmitted to us in certain partial 
narratives of the times in which they lived ; who, raising their 
voices before us, hke torches at a distance, and as looking down 
from some commanding height, call out and exhort us where we 
should walk, and whither direct our course with certainty and 
safety. Whatsoever, therefore, we deem likely to be advan- 
tageous to the proposed subject, we shall endeavour to reduce to 
a compact body by historical narration. For this purpose we 
have collected the materials that have been scattered by our 
predecessors, and culled, as from some intellectual meadows, the 
appropriate extracts from ancient authors. In the execution of 
this work we shall be happy to rescue from oblivion, the succes- 
sions, if not of all, at least of the most noted apostles of our 
Lord, in those churches which even at this day are accounted 
the most eminent ; a labour which has appeared to me necessary 
in the highest degree, as I have not yet been able to find that 
any of the ecclesiastical writers have directed their efforts to pre- 
sent any thing complete in this department of writing. But as 
on the one hand I deem it highly necessary, so also I believe it 
will appear no less useful, to those who are zealous admirers of 
historical research. Of these matters, indeed, I have already 
heretofore furnished an epitome in my chronological tables, but 
in the present work I have undertaken a more full narrative. 
As I said above, I shall begin my treatise with that dispensa- 
tion, and that doctrine of the divinity which in sublimity and 
excellence surpasses all human invention, viz. that of our Sa- 
viour Christ. And indeed, whoever would give a detail of eccle- 
siastical history to posterity, is necessarily obliged to go back to 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 15 

the very origin of the dispensation of Christ, as it is from him, 
indeed, that we derive our very epithet, a dispensation more di- 
vine than many are disposed to think. 



CHAPTER XL 

Summary view of the pre-existence and Divinity of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

As the mode of existence in Christ is twofold, the one resem- 
bling the head of the body, indicating his divinity; the other 
compared to the feet, by which he, for the sake of our salvation, 
assumed that nature which is subject to the same infirmities with 
ourselves ; hence our account of the subsequent matter may be 
rendered complete and perfect, by commencing with the princi- 
pal and most important points in his history. By this method, at 
the same time, the antiquity and the divine dignity of the Chris- 
tian name will be exhibited to those who suppose it a recent and 
foreign production, that sprung into existence but yesterday, and 
was never before known. 

No language, then, is sufficient to express the origin, the dig- 
nity, even the substance and nature of Christ. Whence even the 
divine Spirit in the prophecies says, " who will declare his genera- 
tion V For as no one hath known the Father, but the Son, so 
no one on the other hand, can know the Son fully, but the Fa- 
ther alone, by whom he was begotten. For who but the Father 
hath thoroughly understood that Light which existed before 
the world was — that intellectual and substantial wisdom, and that 
living Word which in the beginning was with the Father, before 
all creation and any production visible or invisible, the first and 
only offipring of God, the prince and leader of the spiritual and 
immortal host of heaven, the angel of the mighty council, the 
agent to execute the Father's secret will, the maker of all things 
with the Father, the second cause of the universe next to the 
Father, the true and only Son of the Father, and the Lord and 
God and King of aU created things, who has received power, and 



16 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

dominion with divinity itself, and power and honour from the 
Father. All this is evident from those more abstruse passages in 
reference to his divinity, " In the beginning was the word, and 
the word was with God, and the word was God." " All things 
were made by him, and without him nothing was made." This, 
too, we are taught by the great Moses, that most ancient of all 
the prophets, when under the influence of the divine Spirit, he de- 
scribes the creation and arrangement of all things, he also informs 
us that the Creator and maker of the universe yielded to Christ, 
and to none but to his divine and first begotten word, the forma- 
tion of all subordinate things, and communed with him respect- 
ing the creation of man. " For," says he, " God said let us make 
man according to our image and according to our likeness." This 
expression is confirmed by another of the prophets, who, discoursing 
of God in his hymns, declares, " He spake, and they were made; he 
commanded, and they were created." Where he introduces the 
Father and maker as the Ruler of all, commanding with his sove- 
reign nod, but the divine word as next to him, the very same that is 
proclaimed to us, as ministering to his Father's commands. Him 
too, all that are said to have excelled in righteousness and piety, 
since the creation of man ; Moses, that eminent servant of God, 
and Abraham before him, the children of the latter, and as many 
righteous prophets as subsequently appeared, contemplated with 
the pure eyes of the mind, and both recognized and gave him the 
worship that w^as his due as the Son of God. The Son himself, 
however, by no means indifferent to the worship of the Father, is 
appointed to teach the knowledge of the Father to all. The 
Lord God, therefore, appeared as a common man to Abraham, 
whilst sitting at the oak of Mamre. And he, immediately fall- 
ing down, although he plainly saw a man with his eyes, never- 
theless worshipped him as God, and entreated him as Lord. He 
confesses, too, that he is not ignorant who he is in the words, " Lord, 
the judge of all the earth, wilt not thou judge righteously ?" For 
as it were wholly unreasonable to suppose the uncreated and un- 
changeable substance of the Almighty God to be changed into 
the form of a man, or to deceive the eyes of beholders with the 
phantom of any created substance, so also it is unreasonable to 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 17 

suppose that the Scriptures have falsely invented such things as 
these. " God and the Lord who is judge of the whole earth, and 
executeth judgment" appearing in the shape of man, who else 
can he be called, if it be not lawful to call him the author of the 
universe, than his only pre-existing word? Concerning whom 
also in the Psalms it is said, " He sent his word and healed them, 
and delivered them from their corruptions." Of Him, Moses ob- 
viously speaks as the second after the Father, when he says, " The 
Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from 
the Lord." Him also again appearing to Jacob in the form of 
man, the sacred Scriptures call by the name of God, saying to Ja- 
cob, " Thy name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall 
be thy name, because thou hast prevailed with God." Whence 
also Jacob called the name of that place the vision of God, say- 
ing, " I have seen God face to face, and my soul has lived." To 
suppose these divine appearances the forms of subordinate angels 
and servants of God, is inadmissible ; since, as often as any of these 
appeared to men, the Scriptures do not conceal the fact in the 
name, expressly saying that they were called not God nor Lord, 
but angels, as would be easy to prove by a thousand references. 
Joshua also, the successor of Moses, calls him as the ruler of ce- 
lestial angels and archangels, of supernal powers, and as the 
power and wisdom of God, intrusted with the second rank of 
sovereignty and rule over all, " the captain of the Lord's host," 
although he saw him only in the form and shape of man. For 
thus it is written : "And it came to pass when Joshua was by Je- 
richo, that he Ufted up his eyes, and looked, and behold there 
stood a man over against him, with his sword drawn in his hand ; 
and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him. Art thou for us, or 
for our adversaries. And he said. Nay but as captain of the 
Lord's host am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the 
earth, and said unto him. What saith my Lord imto his servant ? 
And the captain of the Lord's host, said unto Joshua, Loose thy 
slioe from off thy foot : for the place whereon thou standest is 
holy." Josh. V. 

Here then you will perceive from the words themselves, that 
this is no other than the one that also communicated with Moses. 

C 



18 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Since the Scriptures in the same words, and in reference to the 
same one says^ " When the Lord saw that he drew near to see, 
the Lord called to him from the midst of the bush, saying, Moses, 
Moses. And he answered, Here am L But he said. Draw not 
nearer, loose thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place on which 
thou standest is holy ground. And he said to him, I am the God 
of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the 
God of Jacob." 

That there is also a certain antemundane, hving, and self-ex- 
isting substance, ministering to the Father and God of all unto the 
formation of all created objects, called the word and the wisdom 
of God, besides the proofs already advanced, we may also learn 
from the very words of wisdom, speaking of herself in the clear- 
est manner, through Solomon, and thus initiating us into her 
mysteries. Prov. viii. " I wisdom make my habitation with pru- 
dence and knowledge, and have called to understanding. By 
me kings reign and princes define justice. By me the great are 
magnified, and rulers subdue the earth." To which he subjoins 
the following : " The Lord created me in the beginning of his 
ways, for his works ; before the world he established me, before 
the formation of the earth, before the waters came from their 
fountains, before the foundation of the mountains, before all hills, 
he brought me forth. When he prepared the heavens, I w^as 
present with him, and when he established the fountains under 
the heavens, I was with him, adjusting them. I was his delight; 
daily I exulted before him at all times, when he rejoiced that he 
had completed the world." That the divine word, therefore, pre- 
existed and appeared, if not to all, at least to some, has been thus 
briefly shown. 

THE REASONS WHY THE GOSPEL WAS NOT PROCLAIMED SOONER. 

The reason, however, why this was not also proclaimed before 
in ancient times, to all men and all nations, as it is now, will ap- 
pear from the following considerations. The life of men, in an- 
cient times, was not in a situation to receive the doctrine of Christ, 
in the all- comprehensive fulness of its wisdom and its virtue. For 
immediately in the beginning, after that happy state, the first 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 19 

man, neglecting the Divine commands, fell into the present mortal 
and afflicted condition, and exchanged his former divine enjoy- 
ment for the present earth, subject to the curse. The descend- 
ants of this one, having filled our earth, and proved themselves 
much worse, excepting one here and another there, commenced a 
certain brutal and disorderly mode of life. They had neither city 
nor state, no arts nor sciences, even in contemplation. Laws and 
justice, virtue and philosophy they knew not, even in name. They 
wandered lawless through the desert, hke savage and fierce ani- 
mals, destroying the intellectual faculty of man, and exterminat- 
ing the very seeds of reason and culture of the human mind, by 
the excesses of determined wickedness, and by a total surrender 
of themselves to every species of iniquity. 

Hence, at one time they corrupted each other by criminal in- 
tercourse; at another, they murdered; and at others, fed upon 
human flesh. Hence too, their audacity, in venturing to wage 
war with the Deity himself; and hence those battles of the giants, 
celebrated by aU. Hence too, their attempts to wall up the earth 
against heaven, and by the madness of a perverted mind, to pre- 
pare an attack upon the supreme God himself Upon these men, 
leading a Mfe of such wickedness, the Omniscient God sent down 
inundations and conflagrations, as upon a forest scattered over the 
earth. He cut them down with successive famines and pestilence, 
with constant wars and thunderbolts, as if to suppress the dread- 
ful and obdurate disease of the soul, with his more severe punish- 
ments. Then it was, when the excess of malignity had nearly 
overwhelmed all the world, like ^ deep fit of drunkenness over- 
shadowing and beclouding the minds of men — then it was, that 
the first begotten wisdom of God, existing before all creatures, and 
the self-same pre-existing word, induced by his exceeding love of 
man, appeared at times to his servants, in visions of angels; at 
others, in his own person. As the salutary power of God, he was 
seen by one and the other of the pious in ancient times, in the 
shape of man, because it was impossible to appear in any other 
way. And as by these pious men, the seeds of godliness had been 
already scattered among the mass of mankind, and the whole na- 
tion that claimed its oridn from those ancient Hebrews, continued 



20 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

devoted to the worship of God — to these, therefore, as to a multi 
tude still affected by former corrupt practices, he imparted, 
through Moses, images and signs of a certain mystical Sabbath and 
circumcision, and instructions in other spiritual principles, but did 
not yet grant the privilege of an immediate initiation. But when 
their law obtained celebrity, and like a fragrant odour was spread 
abroad among all men; and by means of this law, the dispositions 
of men, even among most of the gentiles, were improved by legis- 
lators and philosophers every where, who softened their wild and 
savage ferocity, so as to enjoy settled peace, friendship, and mu- 
tual intercourse ; then it was, when men at length throughout the 
whole world, and in all nations had been, as it were, previously pre- 
pared and fitted for the reception of the knowledge of the Father, 
that he himself again appeared, the master of virtue, the minister 
of the Father in all goodness ; the divine and celestial word of God. 
He appeared in a human body, in substance not differing from our 
own nature, at the commencement of the Roman empire; per- 
formed and suffered such things as were to follow, according to 
prophecy, viz. that man and God, the author of miraculous works, 
would dwell in the world, and would be exhibited to all the na- 
tions as the teacher of that piety which the Father will approve. 
In these prophecies, also, were foretold the extraordinary fact of 
his birth, his new doctrine, and his wonderful works; as also the 
manner of his death, his resurrection from the dead, and finaUy 
his divine return to the heavens. The prophet Daniel, under the 
influence of the divine Spirit, foreseeing his kingdom in the end, 
was inspired thus to write and describe his vision, in adaptation to 
human capacity, in the following language : " I beheld," said he, 
" until the thrones were placed ; and the Ancient of Days sat, and 
his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was as 
pure wool; his throne was a flame of fire, his wheels burning fire; 
a river of fire rolled before him; thousand thousands ministered 
unto him, and ten thousand thousands stood near him. He ap- 
pointed judgment, and the books were opened." " And next, I be- 
held," says he, " and lo ! one coming with the clouds as the Son of 
Man, and he advanced as far as the Ancient of Days, and he was 
brought into his presence. And to him was given the dominion, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 21 

and the glory, and the kingdom, and all people, tribes, tongues 
shall serve him. His power is an everlasting power, which shall 
not pass away; and his kingdom shaU not be destroyed." These 
passages can evidently be referred to no one but to our Saviour, that 
God word* which Wcis in the beginning with God; called the Son 
of God, by reason of his final appearance in the flesh. But having 
collected the prophetic declarations concerning our Saviour Jesus 
Christ, in distinct commentariesf on this subject, and having else- 
where digested whatever is revealed concerning him, in a more 
demonstrable form, what has been said upon the subject here 
may suffice for the present 



CHAPTER III. 

The name Jesus, as also that of Christy was both known and ho- 
noured from ancient times, by the inspired prophets. 

It is now the proper place to show that the very name of Jesus, 
as also that of Christ, was honoured by the pious prophets of old. 
And first, Moses himself, having intimated how exceedingly au- 
gust and illustrious the name of Christ is, dehvering types and mys- 
tical images, according to the oracle w^hich declared to him, " See 
that thou make all things according to the pattern wliich was 
shovni thee on the mount," — the same man whom, as far as it was 
lawful, he had called the high priest of God, the self-same he calls 
Christ. J And in this way, to the dignity of the priesthood, wliich 
surpasses vA\h him, all superiority among men, as additional ho- 
nour and glory, he attaches the name of Christ. Hence he evi- 
dently understood that Christ was a Being divine. The same 
Moses, under the divine Spirit, foreseeing also the epithet Jesus, 
likewise dignifies this with a certain distinguished privilege. For 

* God -word. The literal expression is retained here. 

■j- Commentaries. Eusebius here refers to two other works of his, written be- 
fore this history, his Preparation and Demonstration. 

+ Christ. Christ and Messiah, the same epithets in diiFerent languages, signify 
anointed, or the anointed one. 



2^ ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

this name, which had never been uttered among men, before Mo- 
ses, he applies first to him alone who, by a type and sign, he knew 
would be his successor after his death, in the government of the na 
tion. His successor, therefore, who had not assumed the appella- 
tion Jesus,* (Joshua,) before this period, being called by his other 
name Oshea, which his parents had given, was called by Moses 
Jesus, (Jehoshua, Joshua.) Num. xiii. 17. This name, as an ho- 
nourable distinction, far superior to any royal diadem, was con- 
ferred on Joshua, because Joshua the son of Nun bore a resem- 
blance to our Saviour, as the only one after Moses, and the com- 
pletion of that symbolical worship given through him, that should 
succeed him in a government of pure and undefiled religion. Thus 
Moses attaches the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ, as the greatest 
honour to two men, who, according to him, excelled all the rest in 
virtue and glory ; the one to the high priest, the other to him that 
should have the government after him. But the prophets that lived 
subsequently to these times, also plainly announced Christ before by 
name ; whilst at the same time they foretel the machinations of the 
Jews against him, and the calling of the Gentiles through him. 
Jeremiah bears testimony, speaking thus: "The breathf (the spi- 
rit,) before our face, Christ the Lord, was taken away in their 
destructions; of whom we said, under his shadow will we live 
among the nations." Lam. iv. 20. David also, fixed in astonish- 
ment, speaks of him as follows: " Why do the heathen rage, and 
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, 
and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and 
against his Christ." To which he afterwards adds, in the person 
of Christ himself: " The Lord said to me, thou art my Son, this 
day have I begotten thee ; ask of me, and I will give thee the na- 
tions for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
thy possession." Ps. ii. 

* Jesus. By some corruption of the name of Joshua, Eusebius calls him Auses. 
Jesus is the Greek form, for the more Hebrew Joshua. The Septuagint invariably 
use the former, and in one instance it is retained in our EngUsh version. Heb. iv. 8. 

■j- This passage from Jeremiah is rendered as the above from the Septuagint, as 
quoted by Eusebius. In our English version, the force of the allusion is not per- 
ceptible, and one might look in vain for the passage as rendered here ; but the He- 
brew fully admits the Greek version here given. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 23 

Nor was the name of Christ among the Hebrews, given solely 
as an honour to those that were dignified with the priesthood, in 
consequence of their being anointed with oil prepared for the pur- 
pose, as a sacred symbol; the same was done also to the kings, 
whom the prophets, after anointing them under a divine impulse, 
constituted certain typical Christs, as they themselves also were, 
the shadows of the royal and princely sovereignty of the only and 
true Christ, of that divine word which holds sovereignty over all. 
Moreover, we are also told respecting the prophets, that some 
were typical Christs, by reason of their unction ; so that all these 
have a reference to the true Christ, the divine and heavenly word, 
the only high priest of all men, the only king of all creation, and 
the Father's only supreme Prophet of the prophets. The proof of 
this is evident, from the fact that none of those anciently anointed, 
whether priests, kings, or prophets, obtained such power wath di- 
vine excellence as our Saviour and Lord Jesus, the only and true 
Christ, has exhibited. For these, although illustrious among their 
countrymen in dignity and honour, and for a long series of genera- 
tions, never called their subjects after themselves by a similar epi- 
thet, Christians , and neither was there ever divine honour paid to 
any of these from their subjects ; nor even after their death, was 
there ever so strong a disposition in any, as to be prepared to die 
for the honoured individual. And never was there so great a com- 
motion among the nations of the earth, respecting any one then 
existing, since the mere force of the type could not act with such 
efficacy among them, as the exhibition of the reality by our Sa- 
viour. Though He received no badges and emblems of priest- 
hood from any ; though he did not even derive his earthly origin 
from a sacerdotal race, nor was raised to empire under the escort 
of guards; nor installed a prophet, Hke those of old; nor obtained 
a peculiar, or even any dignity among the Jews, yet notwith- 
standing all this, he was adorned by the Father with all these, not 
merely typical honours, but with the reality itself Although He 
did not obtain then the same honours with those mentioned above, 
yet he is called Christ by a far superior claim ; and as he is the 
only and the true Christ of God, he has filled the whole world 
with a name really august and sacred, the name of Christians. To 



24 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

those who are admitted among these, he no longer imparts mere 
types and similitudes, but undisguised virtues, and a heavenly life, 
in the doctrines of truth. He received an unction, not formed of 
material substances, but that w^hich comports with Deity,, the di- 
vine Spirit itself, by a participation of the uncreated divinity of 
the Father. This is shown by Isaiah, who seems to exclaim in 
the very person of Christ: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
wherefore he hath anointed me, (he hath sent me) to proclaim 
glad tidings to the poor, to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim 
liberty to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind." 
And not only Isaiah but David also, addressing him, says, " Thy 
throne, O God, is from everlasting to everlasting. A sceptre of 
righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved 
righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore hath God, thy God, 
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." In which 
words, he calls him God in the first verse; and in the second he 
ascribes to him the royal sceptre, and thus proceeding after the 
divine and royal power, in the third place, he represents him as 
Christ, anointed not by the oil of material substances, but by the 
divine oil of gladness. By this also, he shows his excellence and 
great superiority over those who, in former ages, had been 
anointed as typical images with the material substance. The 
same speaks of him in another place, thus: " The Lord said unto 
my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies 
thy footstool;" and a little after, "From the womb before the 
morning star did I beget thee; the Lord hath sworn and he, 
will not repent, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Mel- 
chisedech." This Melchisedech is mentioned in the holy Scrip- 
tures, as a priest of the Most High God, not consecrated by any 
unction prepared of any material substance, and not even suc- 
ceeding to the priesthood of the Jews, by any descent of lineage. 
Hence, Christ our Saviour is denominated, with the addition 
of an oath, Christ and priest after his own order, but not accord- 
ing to the order of those who received merely the badges and 
emblems. Hence, also, neither does history represent him anointed 
corporeally among the Jews, nor even as sprung from a tribe of 
the priesthood, but as coming into existence from God himself, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 25 

before the morning star; that is, before the constitution of the 
world, obtaining an immortal priesthood, subject to no infirmity 
of age, to all endless ages. But the great and convincing evi- 
dence of that incorporeal and divine power in him, is the fact 
that he alone, of all that have ever existed to the present day, 
even now is known by the title of Christ, among all men over the 
world; and with this title he is acknowledged and professed by 
all, and celebrated both among Barbarians and Greeks. Even to 
this day, he is honoured by his votaries throughout the world, as 
a king ; he is admired as more than a prophet, and glorified as the 
only true high priest of God. In addition to all these, as the pre- 
existing word of God, coming into existence before all ages, and 
who has received the honours of worship, he is also adored as God ; 
but what is most remarkable, is the fact, that we who are conse- 
crated to him, honour him not only with the voice and sound of 
words, but with all the affections of the mind; so that we prefer giv- 
ing a testimony to him, even to the preservation of our own fives. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The religion announced hy Christ among all nations, was neithei 
unexpected nor strange. 

These matters have thus been necessarily premised before our 
history, that no one may suppose our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ was merely a new comer, on account of the date at which 
he appeared among men, in the flesh. And now, that no one 
may suppose his doctrine is new or strange, as if springing from 
one of recent origin, and in no respect differing from the rest of 
men, let us also briefly examine this point. 

It is evident, that but a short time after the appearance of our 
Saviour Jesus Christ had been made known to all men, a new 
nation suddenly came into existence ; a nation confessedly neither 
small nor weak, nor situated in a remote corner of the earth, but 
the most populous and the most refigious of all, and so much the 
more indestructible and invincible, as it has always had the power 

D 



26 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of God as its support. This nation, appearing at the time ap^ 
pointed by inscrutable wisdom, is that which among all, is ho- 
noured with the name of Christ. One of the prophets, foreseeing 
with the eye of the spirit of God, that this people would arise, was 
so struck with amazement that he exclaimed : " Who hath heard 
such things as this ? and who hath ever declared thus ? hath the 
earth brought forth in a single day, and hath a nation been born 
at once ?" The same prophet also gives some intimation of the 
name that would be introduced : " They who serve me shall be 
called by a new name, which shall be blessed upon the earth." 
And indeed, though we are evidently a new people, this new 
name also of Christians has lately become known to all nations. 
The practice, however, and the walk and conversation, the prin- 
ciples of piety prevalent among this people, have not been re- 
cently invented, but were established, we may say, by the Deity 
in the natural dictates of pious men of old, from the very origin of 
our race ; an assertion which we shall endeavour to prove, in the 
following manner. 

That the nation of the Hebrews is not new, but honoured among 
all for its antiquity, is well known. The writings and literature 
of this nation concern ancient men, rare and few in number, but 
yet excelling in piety, righteousness, and every virtue. And in- 
deed, even before the flood, there were some who were distin- 
guished for their virtue ; and after this others, both of the sons 
and posterity of Noah, among whom we would mention Abraham, 
celebrated by the Hebrews as the founder and progenitor of their 
nation. Should any one, beginning from Abraham, and going back 
to the first man, pronounce those who have had the testimony of 
righteousness. Christians in fact, though not in name, he would not 
be far from the truth. For as the name Christians is intended to 
indicate this very idea, that a man, by the knowledge and doctrine 
of Christ, is distinguished by modesty and justice, by patience and 
a virtuous fortitude, and by a profession of piety towards the one 
and only true and supreme God ; all this was no less studiously cul- 
tivated by them than by us. They did not, therefore, regard cir- 
cumcision, nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we ; neither do we 
abstain from certain foods, nor regard other injunctions, which 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 27 

Moses subsequently delivered to be' observed in types and sym- 
bols, because such things as these do not belong to Christians. But 
they ob\dously knew the Christ of God, as he appeared to Abra- 
ham, communed with Isaac, spoke to Jacob; and that he com- 
muned with Moses and the prophets after him, has already been 
shown. 

Hence you \Yi\l find, also, these pious persons honoured with 
the name of Christ, as in the following expression : " Touch not 
my anointed ones (my Christs,) and do my prophets no harm." 
Whence we should plainly suppose, that the first and most an- 
cient religion known, that of those pious men that w^ere connect- 
ed with Abraham, is tiie very religion lately announced to all in 
the doctrines of Christ. Abraham is said to have received the 
command of circumcision, and yet long before this, was proved to 
have received the testimony of righteousness through faith. 
" Abraham," the Scriptures say, '"- believed, and it was imputed 
unto him for righteousness." And, indeed, the di\ine communi- 
cation v/as given to him from God, who appeared to him when 
he bore this character before circumcision. And this was 
Christ himself, the word of God announcing that all who should 
come in future times should be justified in a similar way ; saying, 
" and in thee shall be blessed all the nations of the earth." And 
again, " when he shall become a great and mighty nation, in him 
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." We may ob\dously 
imderstand this by its fulfilment in us ; for he indeed was justified 
by his faith in Christ, the word of God that appeared to him ; and 
having renounced the superstition of his fathers and the former 
errors of his life, confessed the one supreme God, and served him 
by deeds of \irtue, and not by the service subsequently enjoined 
in the law of Moses. 

To him, then, being such, it was declared that all the tribes 
and aU the nations of the earth should be blessed in him. But 
the course of piety which wcis pursued by Abraham, has appeared 
thus far cultivated only by Christians, and that too by works 
more efficacious than words. Wliat, then, should prevent us 
henceforth from acknowledging that there is one%nd the same 
principle of life and conduct, the same course of piety common 



28 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

to us, who have come after Christ, with those pious men who 
lived in times long before ? Whence it is evident that the reli- 
gion delivered to us in the doctrine of Christ is not a new nor a 
strange doctrine ; but if the truth must be spoken, it is the first 
and only true religion. Thus much may suffice on this point. 



CHAPTER V. 

The times of our Saviour's manifestation among men. 

After the necessary preliminary to the Ecclesiastical History 
which we have proposed to write, it now remains that we com- 
mence our course, invoking God, the Father of the word, and Jesus 
Christ himself, our revealed Saviour and Lord, the heavenly word 
of God, as our aid and fellow-labourer in the narration of the 
truth. It was the forty-second year of the reign of Augustus, 
but the twenty-eighth from the subjugation of Egypt and the 
death of Antony and Cleopatra, which terminated the dynasty 
of the Ptolemies, when, according to prophetic prediction, our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea. 
The same year, when the first census was taken, and Quirinius* 
was governor of Syria. — This census is mentioned by Flavins Jo- 
sephus, the distinguished historian among the Hebrews, who also 
adds another account respecting the sect of the Galileans, which 
arose about the same time, of which also mention is made by our 
Luke in his book of Acts, in the following words — " After this man 
arose Judas of Galilee, in the days of the taxing (assessment), 
and drew away much people after him, he also preached ; and 
all, even as many as obeyed him were dispersed." Acts v. 37. 
The aforesaid author agreeing with this statement in the 18th 

* Quirinius. — This Quirinius is the same Cyrenius mentioned by St. Luke. 
The former is the original Roman name, the latter the Latin mode of transferring 
the name from the Greek. - Had it been recollected that the Greek name was not 
the original, this proper name would not have been returned to its own language, 
in a form so disguised. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 29 

book of his Antiquities, adds the following : " But Quirinius, who 
belonged to the senate, and after enjoyed other offices, advanced 
through all the grades of office to the consulship, a man also of 
great dignity in other respects, by the appointment of Cesar, came 
to Syria, with a small force, and with judicial power over the 
people, to take a valuation of their property." A little after he 
says : " But Judas, the Gaulonite, sprung from the town called 
Gamala, together with Sadducus, a Pharisee, headed a revolt of 
the people, saying that the assessment had nothing else in view 
but manifest slavery ; and they exhorted the people to assert their 
liberty." He also writes in the second book of the history of the 
Jewish War, concerning the same man : " About this time a cer- 
tain Judas of Galilee, stimulated the inhabitants to revolt, urging 
it as a reproach, that they endured paying tribute, and that they 
who had God for their master, suffered mortals to usurp the so- 
vereignty over them." Thus far Josephus. 



CHAPTER VL 



About the time of our Lord, agreeably to prophecy, those rulers 
ceased that had formerly governed the nation of the Jeios by re- 
gular succession, and Herod was the first foreigner that reigned 
over them. 

At the time that Herod was king, who was the first foreigner 
that reigned over the Jewish people, the prophecy recorded by 
Moses received its fulfilment, viz. " That a prince should not fail 
of Judah, nor a ruler from his loins, until he should come for whom 
it is reserved."* The same, he also shows, M'^ould be the expecta- 
tion of the nations. The prediction was evidently not accom- 
plished, as long as they were at liberty to have their own native 
rulers, which continued from the time of Moses down to the reign 
of Augustus. Under him, Herod was the first foreigner that ob- 
tained the government of the Jews. Since, as Josephus has writ- 

* This celebrated passage we here give after the Septuagint, which Eusebius 
invariably quotes. 



30 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

ten, he was an Idumean by the father's side, and an Arabian by 
the mother's. But, as Africanus, who is also no common writer, 
says, " They who have written more accurately respecting him, 
say that he was the son of Antipater, and that the latter was the 
son of a certain Herod of Ascalon, one of those called the ministers 
of the temple of Apollo, in that city. This Antipater, when a 
boy, having been taken prisoner by some Idumean robbers, lived 
with them, because his father being a poor man, was unable to 
pay his ransom. Thus growing up in their practices, he was 
afterwards befriended by Hyrcanus the high priest of the Jews. 
His son was that Herod that flourished in the times of our Sa- 
viour. The government of the Jews, therefore, having devolved 
on such a man, the expectation of the nations was now at hand, 
according to prophecy; because with him terminated the regular 
succession of governors and princes, from the time of Moses. For 
before their captivity and their transfer to Babylon, they were first 
governed by Saul and David as their kings ; and before the kings, 
the government was administered by magistrates called judges, 
who came after Moses and his successor Joshua. After the re- 
turn from the captivity of Babylon, they continued to retain the 
aristocratical form of government, together with an oligarchy. 
The high priests had then the direction of affairs, until Pompey, 
the proconsular general of the Romans, took Jerusalem by force 
of arms, and defiled the sacred places, entering the sanctuary of 
the temple. Aristobulus, who had been both king and high 
priest by regular succession until then, was sent with his children 
in chains to Rome, and the priesthood was given to his brother 
Hyrcanus, whilst the whole nation of the Jews was made tri- 
butary to the Romans from that time. 

But Hyrcanus, who was the last of the high priests by succes- 
sion, having been soon after taken prisoner by the Parthians, He- 
rod, as I said before, had the government of the Jews conferred 
upon him by the senate of Rome and the emperor Augustus. 
About this time, the advent of Christ being nigh at hand, the ex- 
pected salvation of the nations received its fulfilment, and was 
followed by the calling of the Gentiles, according to prophetic de- 
clarations. From this time also, the princes and rulers of Judah, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 31 

i. e. of the Jewish nation, ceasing, by a natural consequence, the 
priesthood, which had descended from a series of ancestors in the 
closest succession of kindred, was immediately thrown into confu- 
sion. Of this, you have the evidence of Josephus ; who shows that 
when Herod was appointed king by the Romans, he no longer no- 
minated the chief priests from the ancient lineage, but conferred 
the honour upon certain obscure individuals. A course similar to 
that of Herod, in the appointment of the high priest, was pur- 
sued by Archelaus, his son; and next by the Romans, who, 
after him, took the government of the Jews into their own 
hands. The same Josephus shows that Herod was the first that 
locked up the sacred vesture of the high priest, and having se- 
cured it under his own private seal, no longer permitted the high 
priests to have it at their disposal. The same thing was done by 
Archelaus his successor, as also by the Romans. It may sufl[ice 
then, to have said thus much, in proof of another prophecy, which 
has terminated in the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Most clearly indeed does the book of Daniel, expressly embracing 
a number of certain weeks, until the government of Christ, con- 
cerning which we have treated in another work, predict that after 
the termination of these, the sacred unction amongst the Jews 
should be totally abolished. And this is evidently proved to have 
been fulfilled at the time of our Saviour's birth. Let this be suffi- 
cient, however, as a necessary preliminary, to establish the truth 
in reference to the times. 



CHAPTER VII. 



On the discrepancy which is supposed to const in the Gospels, re 
specting the genealogy of Christ. 

As the genealogy of Christ is diflferently given to us by Mat- 
thew and Luke, and they are supposed by the generality to disa- 
gree in their statements ; and as every believer, for want of know- 
ing the truth, has been led to apply some investigaticai to explain 
the passages, we may also subjoin the account which has come 



32 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

down to us. We refer to the history which has been handea 
down on these passages by Africanus, in an epistle to Aristides, 
respecting the harmony of the genealogy of the gospels. After 
having refuted the opinions of others as forced and fictitious, he 
sets forth the account that he had ascertained himself, in the fol- 
lowing words. " It was customary in Israel to calculate the 
names of the generations, either according to nature, or accord- 
ing to the law ; according to nature, by the succession of legitimate 
offspring ; according to the law, when another raised children to 
the name of a brother who had died childless. For as the hope 
of a resurrection was not yet clearly given, they imitated the pro- 
mise which was to take place by a kind of mortal resurrection, 
with a view to perpetuate the name of the person who had died. 
Since then, there are some of those who are inserted in this gene- 
alogical table, that succeed each other in the natural order of 
father and son, some again that were born of others, and were as- 
cribed to others by name, both the real and reputed fathers have 
been recorded. Thus, neither of the gospels has made a false 
statement, whether calculating in the order of nature, or accord- 
ing to law. For the families descended from Solomon, and those 
from Nathan, were so intermingled, by substitutions in the place 
of those who had died childless, by second marriages and the rais- 
ing up of seed, that the same persons are justly considered, as in 
one respect, belonging to the one of these, and in another respect 
belonging to others. Hence it is, that both of these accounts being 
true, viz. of those who were reputed fathers, and those who really 
were fathers, they come down to Joseph with considerable intri- 
cacy, it is true, but with great accuracy. That this, however, 
may be made evident, I will state the series of generations. If 
(in the genealogy of Matthew,) you reckon the generations from 
David through Solomon, Matthan, who begat Jacob the father of 
Joseph, is found to be the third from the end. But if, with Luke, 
you reckon from Nathan the son of David, in like manner, Melchi, 
whose son was Eli, the father of Joseph, will be found to be the 
third. As Joseph, then, is our proposed object, we are to show 
how it happened that each is recorded as his father ; both Jacob, 
as deduced from Solomon, and Eli from Nathan ; also, how it hap- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 33 

pened that these two, Jacob and Eli, were brothers ; and more- 
over, how the fathers of these, Matthan and Melchi, being of 
dijfFerent famiUes, are proved to be the grandfathers of Joseph. 

Matthan and Melchi, having married in succession the same 
woman, had children, who were brothers by the same mother, as 
the law did not prohibit a widow, whether she became such by- 
divorce, or by the death of her husband, to marry again. Mat- 
than, therefore, who traces his lineage from Solomon, first had 
Jacob, by Estha, for this is her name as handed down by tradition. 
Matthan dying, and Melchi, who traces his descent from Nathan, 
though he was of the same tribe, but of another family, having, 
as before said, married her, had a son Eli. Thus, then, we shall 
find the two of different families, Jacob and Eli, brothers by the 
same mother. Of these, the one Jacob, on the death of his bro- 
ther, marrying his widow, became the father of a third, viz. Jo- 
seph ; his son both by nature and calculation. Wherefore, it is 
written, Jacob begat Joseph. But according to the law, he was 
the son of Eli, for Jacob being his brother, jaised up seed to him. 
Wherefore, the genealogy traced also through him, will not be 
rendered void, which, according to Matthew, is given thus — " but 
Jacob begat Joseph." But Luke, on the other hand, says, " who was 
the son, as was supposed, (for tliis he also adds,) the son of Joseph, 
the son of Eli, the son of Melchi." For it was not possible to ex- 
press the legal genealogy more distinctly, so that he entirely omits 
the expression, " he begat,'^ in a generation hke this, until the end ; 
having traced it back as far as Adam, " who was the son of God," 
he resolves the whole series by referring back to God. Neither 
is this incapable of proof, nor is it an idle conjecture. For the re- 
latives of our Lord, according to the flesh, whether to display 
their ovm illustrious origin, or simply to show the fact, but at any 
rate adhering strictly to the truth, have also handed dow^n the 
following accounts : That robbers of Idumea, attacking Ascalon, 
a city of Palestine, led Antipater away captive together with 
other booty, from the temple of Apollo, which was built close to the 
walls. He was the son of one Herod, a minister of the temple. 
The priest, however, riot being able to pay the ransom for his son, 
Antipater was trained up in the practices of the Idumeans, and 

E 



34 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

afterwards in great favour with Hyrcanus the high priest of Ju- 
dea. He was subsequently sent by Hyrcanus on an embassy to 
Pompey, and having restored the kingdom to him, which had 
been invaded by Aristobulus, the brother of the latter, Antipater 
himself had the good fortune to be nominated the procurator of 
Palestine. Antipater, however, having been treacherously slain, by 
those who envied his good fortune, was succeeded by his son Herod. 
He was afterwards, by a decree of the senate, appointed king of 
the Jews, under Antony and Augustus. His sons were Herod and 
the other tetrarchs. These accounts of the Jews also coincide 
with those of the Greeks. But, as the genealogies of the Hebrews 
had been regularly kept in the archives until then, and also of 
those who referred back as far as the ancient proselytes ; as for 
instance, to Achior the Ammonite, and Ruth the Moabitess, and 
to those that were intermixed with the Israelites at their depar- 
ture from Egypt ; and as the lineage of the Israelites contributed 
nothing to Herod's advantage, he was goaded by the conscious- 
ness of his ignoble extraction, and committed all these records of 
their families to the flames. Thinking that himself might ap- 
pear of noble origin, by the fact that no one else would be able 
to trace his pedigree by the public records, back to patriarchs or 
proselytes, and to those strangers that were called georas.* A 
few however of the careful, either remembering the names, or 
having it in their power in some other way, by means of copies, to 
have private records of their own, gloried in the idea of preserving 
the memory of their nob^e extraction. Of these were the above- 
mentioned persons, called desposyni,f on account of their affinity 
to the family of our Saviour. These coming from Nazara and 
Cochaba, villages of Judea, to the other parts of the world, explain- 

* The word y£iu.p«i?, used here by Eusebius, is taken from the Septuagint, Exod. 
xii. 19. It is evidently a corruption of the Hebrew word -]:>, a stranger, and is inter- 
preted by Theodoret, in loc. ys'^p^i- -rov vpca-^Kurnv srpoo-yiyopsuo-s, he called the prose- 
lyte ys""?*;, stranger. 

f The word desposynos signifies, in general, one who belongs to a master ; it is 
here appUed according to the usage of the primitive church, to indicate the rela- 
tives of our Lord, as those who were the Lord's according to the flesh. Suidas 

explains the words ^*'S tou Sea-TrOTOu esn. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 35 

ed the aforesaid genealogy from the book of daily records, as 
faithfully as possible. Whether, then, the matter be thus or other- 
wise, as far as I and every impartial judge would say, no one 
certainly could discover a more ob\dous interpretation. And 
this, then, may suffice on the subject ; for, although it be not sup- 
ported by testimony, we have nothing to advance, either better or 
more consistent • with truth. The gospel, altogether, states the 
truth." At the close of the same epistle, this writer, (Africanus,) 
adds the following : " Matthan, whose descent is traced to Solo- 
mon, begat Jacob, Matthan dying, Melchi, whose lineage is from 
Nathan, by marrying the mdow of the former, had Eh. Hence, 
Eli and Jacob were brothers by the same mother. Eh dying 
childless, Jacob raised up seed to him, having Joseph, according 
to nature belonging to himself, but by the law to Eli. Thus, Jo- 
seph was the son of both." So far Africanus ; and the lineage of 
Joseph thus being traced, Mary, also, at the same time, as far as 
can be, is e\dnced to be of the same tribe, since, by the ^Mosaic 
law, intermarriages among different tribes were not permitted. 
For the injunction is, to marry one of the same kindred, and the 
same family, so that the inheritance may not be transferred from 
tribe to tribe. And this may suffice, also, on the present point. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Herod's cruelty against the infants, and his wretched end. 

Christ, then, having been born, according to the prophecies, in 
Bethlehem of Judea, about the times that had been revealed, He- 
rod was not a Httle alarmed at the intelligence. Having ascer- 
tained, on the inquiry of the eastern Magi, where the king of the 
Jews should be born, as they had seen his star, and this had been 
the cause of so long a journey to them, glowing with zeal to wor- 
ship the infant as God ; he was under great apprehensions, as sup- 
posing his own kingdom to be in danger. Having, therefore, 
inquired of the doctors of the law in the nation, where they ex- 
pected Qirist should be born, and ascertained the prophecy of 



36 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Micah, announcing tliat it would be in Bethlehem, in a single 
edict he orders the male infants from two years and below to be 
slain, both in Bethlehem and all its parts, according to the time 
that he had accurately ascertained from the Magi; thinking at 
all events, as seemed very probable, that he would carry off 
Jesus also, in the same destruction with those of his own age. 
The child, however, anticipated the snare, being carried into 
Egypt by his pare.o|^^ho had been informed by the appearance 
of an angel of what was about to happen. These same facts are 
also stated in the sacred text of the gospel. 

It is also worth while to observe the reward which Herod re- 
ceived for his criminal audacity against Christ and the infants ; 
how, without the least delay, the Divine justice immediately over- 
took him; and even before his death, exhibited the prelude to 
those punishments that awaited him after death. It is not possi- 
ble for me here, to relate in what ways he tarnished what was 
supposed to be the felicity of his reign, by the successive calami- 
ties of his family, the slaughter of his wife and children, and the 
rest of his kindred, allied to him by the closest and most tender 
relations. The whole subject of these particulars, which casts 
all the representations of tragedy into the shade, has been han- 
dled to its full extent in the histories written by Josephus. But 
to understand in what manner also, the chastisement of Heaven 
scourged him onwards to the period of death, it may not be less 
proper to hear the words of the same author, describing the end 
of his life, in the seventeenth book of his Antiquities,pas follows: 
" But the disease of Herod became daily more virulent, God in- 
flicting punishment for his crimes. For it was a slow fire, not only 
exhibiting to those who touched him a heat in proportion to the 
internal wasting of his body, but there was also an excessive de- 
sire and craving after food, whilst no one dared to refuse. This 
was attended with swellings of the intestines, and especially ex- 
cessive pains of the colon. A moist and transparent humour also 
covered his feet Similar also was the disease about the ventri- 
cle, so that the corruption causing worms in the lower part of the 
abdomen, there was an increased violence of breathing, which, 
of itself was veiy offensive; both on account of the disagreeable 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 37 

effluvia, and the rapidity of the respiration. He was also so con- 
vulsed in every part of his body, that it added an almost insupera- 
ble strength. It w^as said, therefore; by those who are conversant 
with divine things, and to whose wisdom it appertained to declare 
such things, that God inflicted this punishment upon the king on 
account of his great impiety." 

These are the particulars which are stated by the aforesaid 
writer, in the book mentioned ; and in the second book of his his- 
tory, he gives very much the same account concerning him, in 
the following words: " Then the disease pervading his whole 
body, distracted it by various torments. For the fever became 
more intense, the itching of the whole surface was insupportable, 
and the pains of the lower abdomen were incessant. On his feet 
were swelhngs, as of one labouring with the dropsy. There was 
also an inflammation of the ventricle, and a putrefaction that gene- 
rated worms. Beside this, a more violent breathing, and difficult 
respiration, and convulsions of all the limbs ; so that they who re- 
ferred to a divine agency, said that this disease was a punish- 
ment. But, though struggling with so many sufferings, he never- 
theless clung to life, and did not relinquish the hope of deliverance, 
but was ever devising new remedies. Crossing the Jordan, there- 
fore, he used the warm baths near Calhrhoe. These flow into the 
lake Asphaltites, (Dead sea,) but by reason of their sweetness, 
they are also potable. As the physicians here deemed it neces- 
sary to use some soothing application, his whole body was bathed 
in tepid oi\,Sn a bathing tub filled with oil for that purpose, when 
he was so overcome that his eyes began to break, and turn up 
like one dead. His servants then being alarmed and raising an 
outcry, he indeed returned to himself at the noise ; but after that, 
despairing of recovery, he ordered about fifty drachms to be dis- 
tributed to the soldiers, and considerable sums to be given to his 
generals and friends. Returning, he came to Jericho; where, 
being seized with despair, and now only threatening death him- 
self, he proceeded to a crowning act of most nefarious character. 
He collected the distinguished men of every village from the whole 
of Judea, and commanded them to be shut up in what was called 
the Hippodrome. He then sent for Salome, his sister, and hei 



38 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

husband Alexander. I know," said he, " that the Jews will rejoice 
at my death ; but I may be lamented by means of others, and have 
gplendid funeral rites, if you are wilhng to perform my commands. 
As soon as I have expired, surround these men that are now un- 
der guard with soldiers, as soon as possible, and slay them, that 
all Judea and every house, though against their will, may be com- 
pelled to weep at my death." And soon after, he adds, " again, 
he was so tortured, partly by the want of food and by a convul- 
sive cough, that, overpowered by his pains, he contemplated an- 
ticipating his fate. Having taken an apple, he also demanded a 
knife, for he was accustomed to cut and eat it. Then, looking 
around, lest there should be any one to hinder him, he raised his 
right arm as if to strike himself." The same author, in addition 
to these, says, " that he slew another of his own sons before his 
death, being the third that had already been slain by his orders, 
and that immediately after this, he breathed out his life, not with- 
out excessive torture." 

Such, then, was the end of Herod, who thus sufiered the just 
punishment for the crimes that he committed in the murder of the 
children of Bethlehem, when he designed the destruction of our 
Saviour. After this, an angel appearing in a dream to Joseph, 
who was then in Egypt, directed him to return with the child 
and his mother, revealing to him that they were dead who had 
sought the life of the infant. To this account the Evangelist 
adds ; " But he hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea, in the 
place of Herod, his father, was afraid to go thither, and being 
warned in a dream, he retired into the parts of Galilee." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Of the times of Pilate, 



The same historian also agrees with the statements respecting 
the government of Archelaus after Herod's death ; and relates in 
what manner he succeeded to the kingdom of the Jews, by the 
will of Herod, his father, and the confirmation of it by Cesar Au- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 39 

gustus ; as also, that he having lost his kingdom after ten years, 
his brothers PhiHp and Herod, the younger, together with Lysa- 
nias, had the government of their tetrarchies. The same author, 
in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, says, " that about the 
twelfth year of the reign of Tiberius, (for he succeeded to the 
empire after Augustus, who had reigned fifty-seven years,) Pontius 
Pilate was appointed over Judea, and remained there upon the 
whole ten years, almost to the death of Tiberius. Hence the 
fraud of those persons is plainly proved, who lately, and at other 
times have given currency to certain spurious acts against our 
Saviour. In which the very time of the date proves the false- 
hood of the inventors. For in the fourth consulship of Tiberius, 
which was in the seventh year of his reign, those things are said 
to have occurred, which they have dared to say respecting his 
salutary sufiering. At which time, indeed, it is plain, that Pilate 
was not yet appointed over Judea, if Josephus is to be credited, 
who plainly says, in the work already cited, that Pilate was ap- 
pointed procurator of Judea, by Tiberius, in the twelfth year of 
his reign. 



CHAPTER X. 



The high priests of the Jews, under whom Christ promulgated his 

doctrines. 

It was about the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius, ac- 
cording to the Evangelist, in the fourth year, that Pilate was 
procurator of Judea, when Herod, Lysanias, and Phihp, as te- 
trarchs, held the government of the rest of Judea, when our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was in his thirtieth year, that he 
came to the baptism of John, and then made the beginning of 
promulgating his gospel. The holy Scriptures, moreover, relate 
that he passed the whole time of his public ministry under the 
high priests Annas andCaiaphas; intimating, that during the years 
of their priesthood, the whole time of his ministry was termi- 
nated. For, beginning with the pontificate of Annas, and continu- 



40 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

ing after that of Caiaphas, the whole of this interval does not 
even give us four years. The rites, indeed, of the law, having 
heen already abolished since that period, with it were also an- 
nulled the privileges of the priesthood, viz. of continuing it for 
life, and of hereditary descent. Under the Roman governors, 
however, different persons at different times were appointed as 
high priests, who did not continue in office nwre than a year. 
Josephus, indeed, relates that there were four high priests in 
succession from Annas to Caiaphas. Thus, in his book of Anti- 
quities, he writes in the following manner : " Valerius Gratus, 
having put a period to the priesthood of Annas, promoted Ishmael, 
the son of Baphi, to the office ; and, removing him also, not long 
after, he appointed Eleazar, the son of Annas, who had been 
high priest, to the office. After the lapse of a year, removing 
also him, he transfers the priesthood to Simon, the son of Cami- 
thus. But he, also, did not continue to hold the honour longer 
than a year, when he was succeeded by Josephus, surnamed 
Caiaphas." Hence the whole time of our Saviour's ministry is 
proved not to embrace four entire years ; there being four high 
priests for four years, from Annas to the appointment of Caia- 
phas, each of which held the office a year respectively. Caia- 
phas, indeed, is justly shown, by the gospel narrative, to have 
been high priest in that year in which our Saviour's sufferings 
were finished. With which present observation, the time of 
Christ's ministry is also proved to agree. Our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ, not very long after the commencement of his public 
ministry, elected the twelve, whom he called Apostles, by way of 
eminence over the rest of his disciples. He also appointed 
seventy others beside these, whom he sent, two and two, before 
him into every place and city whither he himself was about to go. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 41 

CHAPTER XL 

The testimonies respecting John the Baptist and Christ 

As it was not long before this that John the Baptist was be- 
headed by Herod the younger, the holy Scriptures record the fact, 
which is also confirmed by Josephus, who has expressly made men- 
tion of Herodias by name, and the circumstance of her being mar- 
ried to Herod, though she was the wife of his brother ; Herod 
having first divorced his former lawful wife. She was a daugh- 
ter of Aretas, king of Arabia Petraga. But having forced Hero- 
dias from her husband yet living, and on whose account also he 
slew John, he was involved in a war with Aretas for the disgrace 
inflicted on his daughter; in which war he relates that, when 
coming to battle, the army of Herod was completely destroyed ; 
and that he suffered all this, on account of the crime that he com- 
mitted against John. But the same Josephus, in this account, in 
which he confesses that John was a most righteous man, also bears 
testimony to what is recorded of him in the narratives of the gos- 
pels. He relates, also, that Herod lost his kingdom on account of 
the same Herodias, and that he was driven into exile with her, 
and condemned to dwell at Vienna, a city of Gaul. These facts 
are stated by him in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, where 
in the same paragraphs, he also writes thus concerning John: 
" To some of the Jews, the army of Herod seemed to have been 
destroyed by God; who thus, with signal justice, avenged John, 
called the Baptist. For Herod slew him, a good man, and one 
who exhorted the Jews to the practice of virtue, and with the 
pursuit of righteousness and piety towards God, to receive bap- 
tism. For this baptism appeared to have been imparted to him 
for this object, not with the view to avoid a few trifling sins, but 
for the purification of the body, as far as the mind had been first 
purified by righteousness. 

" And when many others flocked to him, for they were also 
much delighted with Hstening to his discourses, Herod, dreading 
the great confidence of men in him, lest, perhaps, he might stimu- 
late them to a revolt, (for they seemed disposed to do any thing 

F 



42 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

at his suggestion,) considered it much hetter, before any change 
should be attempted by him, to anticipate by destroying him ; 
than after a revolution, when involved in difficulties, to repent 
when it was too late. In consequence of Herod's suspicions, there- 
fore, he was sent in bonds to the aforesaid prison of Machaerus, 
and there slain." After relating these things concerning John, 
Josephus in the same work, also makes mention of our Saviour in 
the following manner : " About the same time, there was a certain 
Jesus, a wise man, if indeed it is proper to call him a man. For 
he was a performer of extraordinary deeds ; a teacher of men, 
that received his doctrine with delight; and he attached to him- 
self many of the Jews, many also of the Greeks. This was Christ. 
Pilate having inflicted the punishment of the cross upon him, on 
the accusation of our principal men, those who had been attached 
to him before did not, however, afterwards cease to love him: 
for he appeared to them alive again on the third day, according to 
the holy prophets, who had declared these and innumerable other 
wonderful things respecting him. The race of the Christians, who 
derive their name from him, likewise still continues." When such 
testimony as this is transmitted to us by an historian who sprung 
from the Hebrews themselves, both respecting John the Baptist 
and our Saviour, what subterfuge can be left, to prevent those 
from being convicted destitute of all shame, who have forged the 
acts against them ? This however, may suffice on this subject. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Of the disciples of our Lord, 



The names of our Saviour's apostles are sufficiently obvious to 
every one, from his gospels ; but of the seventy disciples, no cata- 
logue is given any where. Barnabas, indeed, is said to have been 
one of them, of whom there is distinguished notice in the Acts 
of the Apostles ; and also in St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians. 
Sosthenes, who sent letters with Paul to the Corinthians, is said 
to have been one of these. Clement, in the fifth of his Hypoty- 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 43 

poses or Listitutions, in which he also mentions Cephas, of whom 
Paul also says, that he came to Antioch, and " that he withstood 
him to his face ;" — says, that one who had the same name with 
Peter the apostle, was one of the seventy ; and that Matthias, who 
was numbered with the apostles in place of Judas, and he who 
had been honoured to be a candidate with him, is also said to have 
been deemed worthy of the same calling with the seventy. They 
also say that Thaddeus was one of them ; concerning whom, I shall 
presently relate a narrative that has come down to us. More- 
over, if any one observe with attention, he will find more disciples 
of our Saviour than the seventy, on the testimony of Paul, who says, 
that " he appeared after his resurrection, first to Cephas, then to 
the twelve, and after these to five hundred brethren at once." Of 
whom, he says, " some are fallen sisleep," but the greater part were 
Uving at the time he wrote. Afterwards, he says, he appeared to 
James ; he, however, was not merely one of these disciples of our 
Saviour, but he was one of his brethren. Lastly, when beside these, 
there still was a considerable number who were apostles in imitation 
of the twelve, such as Paul himself was, he adds, saying " after- 
wards he appeared to aU the apostles." 

This account may suffice respecting these apostles ; but the 
history of Thaddeus, already mentioned by us, was as follows. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

JVarrative respecting the prince of Edessa. 

The divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, being famed 
abroad among all men, in consequence of his wonder-working 
power, attracted immense numbers, both from abroad and from 
the remotest parts of Judea, with the hope of being cured of 
their diseases and various afflictions. Agbarus, therefore, who 
reigned over the nations beyond the Euphrates with great glory, 
and who had been wasted away with a disease, both dreadful 
and incurable by human means when he heard the name of Je- 
sus frequently mentioned, and his miracles unanimously attested 



44 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

by all, sent a suppliant message to him, by a letter-carrier, en- 
treating a deliverance from his disease. But, though he did not 
yield to his call at that time, he nevertheless condescended to 
write him a private letter, and to send one of his disciples to heal 
his disorder ; at the same time, promising salvation to him and all 
his relatives. And it was not long, indeed, before the promise 
was fulfilled. After the resurrection, however, and his return to 
the heavens, Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, by a divine im 
pulse, sent Thaddeus, who was also one of the seventy disciples 
to Edessa, as a herald and evangelist of the doctrines of Christ 
And by his agency all the promises of our Saviour were ful 
filled. Of this, also, we have the evidence, in a written an 
swer, taken from the pubHc records of the city of Edessa, then 
under the government of the king. For in the public registers 
there, which embrace the ancient history and the transactions of 
Agbarus, these circumstances respecting him are found still pre- . 
served down to the present day. There is nothing, however, 
Kke hearing the epistles themselves, taken by us from the archives, 
and the style of it as it has been literally translated by us, from 
the Syriac language ; 

COPY OF THE LETTER WRITTEN BY KING AGBARUS, TO JESUS, AND 
SENT TO HIM, AT JERUSALEM, BY ANANIAS, THE COURIER. 

Agbarus, prince of Edessa, sends greeting to Jesus the excel- 
lent Saviour, who has appeared in the borders of Jerusalem. 1 
have heard the reports respecting thee and thy cures, as performed 
by thee without medicines and without the use of herbs. For as it 
is said, thou causest the blind to see again, the lame to walk, and 
thou cleansest the lepers, and thou castest out impure spirits and 
demons, and thou healest those that are tormented by long disease, 
and thou raisest the dead. And hearing all these things of thee, I 
concluded in my mind one of two things : either that thou art 
God, and having descended from heaven, doest these things, or else 
doing them, thou art the son of God. Therefore, now t have written 
and besought thee to visit me, and to heal the disease with which 
I am afflicted. I have, also, heard that the Jews murmur against 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 45 

thee, and are plotting to injure thee ; I have, however, a very 
small but noble state, which is sufficient for us both." 

This epistle, he thus wrote, whilst yet somewhat enlightened 
by the rays of divine truth. It is, also, worth the time to learn 
the epistle sent to him from Jesus, by the same bearer, which^ 
though very brief, is yet very nervous, written in the following 
style : 

THE ANSWER OF JESUS, TO KING AGBARUS, BY THE COURIER, ANANIAS^ 

Blessed art thou, O Agbarus, who, without seeing, hast believ- 
ed in me. For it is written concerning me, that they who have 
seen me will not believe, that they who have not seen, may be- 
lieve and Uve. But in regard to w^hat thou hast written, that I 
should come to thee, it is necessary that I should fulfil all 
things here, for which I have been sent. And after this fulfil- 
ment, thus to be received again by Him that sent me. And after 
I have been received up, I will send to thee a certain one of my 
disciples, that he may heal thy affliction, and give life to thee and 
to those who are with thee." 

To these letters there was, also, subjoined in the Syriac lan- 
guage : " After the ascension of Jesus, Judas, who is also called 
Thomas, sent him Thaddeus, the apostle, one of the seventy; 
who, when he came, remained at the house of Tobias, the son 
of Tobias. When the report was circulated concerning his ar- 
rival, and he became publicly known by the miracles which he 
performed, it was communicated to Agbarus, that an apostle of 
Jesus had came thither, as he had written. Thaddeus, therefore, 
began in the power of God to heal every kind of disease and in- 
firmity ; so that all were amazed. But when Agbarus heard the 
great deeds and miracles which he performed, and how he healed 
men in the name and power of Jesus Christ, he began to suspect 
that this was the very person concerning whom Jesus had written, 
saying, after I have been received up again, I will send to thee 
one of my disciples, who shall heal thy affliction. Having, there- 
fore, sent for Tobias, with whom he staid, I have heard, said he, 
that a certain powerful man, who hath come from Jerusalem, is 
staying at thy house, and is performing many cures in the name 



m 



46 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of Jesus. He answered, Yea, my lord, a certain stranger has 
come, who hath lodged with me, and is performing many wonders. 
And he rephed. Bring him to me. Tobias, then, returning to 
Thaddeus, said to him, Agbarus the king having sent for me, has 
told me to conduct thee to him, that thou mayest heal his disorder. 
And Thaddeus replied, I will go, since I have been sent with power, 
to him. Tobias, therefore, arose early the next day, and taking 
Thaddeus vdth him, came to Agbarus. When he came, his nobles 
were present, and stood around. Immediately on his entrance, 
something extraordinary appeared to Agbarus, in the countenance 
of the apostle Thaddeus ; which Agbarus observing, paid him re- 
verence. But all around were amazed ; for they did not perceive 
the vision which appeared to Agbarus alone : he then asked Ag- 
barus whether he were truly a disciple of Jesus the Son of God, who 
had said to him, I will send one of my disciples to thee, who will 
heal thy sickness, and will give hfe to thee and to all thy connexions? 
And Thaddeus answered, Since thou hast had great confidence in 
the Lord Jesus, who hath sent me, therefore, I am sent to thee. And, 
moreover, if thou believest in him, with increasing faith, the pe- 
titions of thy heart shall be granted thee, as thou beUevest. And 
Agbarus replied. So much did I believe in him that I had form- 
ed the resolution to take forces, in order to destroy those Jews 
who had crucified him, had I not been deterred from my purpose 
by a regard for the Roman empire. Thaddeus rephed. Our 
Lord and God, Jesus the Christ, hath fulfilled the will of his Fa- 
ther, and having fulfilled it, was taken up again to his Father. 
Agbarus saith to him, I have believed both in him and in his Fa- 
ther. Then said Thaddeus, Therefore, I place my hand upon 
thee in the name of the same Lord Jesus. And this being done, 
he was immediately healed of the sickness and sufferings with 
which he was afflicted. And Agbarus was amazed, that just as 
he had heard respecting Jesus, so in very deed he received 
it through his disciple and apostle Thaddeus, who had healed 
him without any medicine and herbs, and not only him, but Ab- 
das also, the son of Abdas, who was afflicted with the podagra. 
He also, approaching, fell down at his feet, and received his bene- 
diction, with the imposition of his hand, and was healed. Many 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 47 

of the same city were also healed by the same apostle, who per- 
formed wonderful and great deeds, and proclaimed the word of 
God. After this, said Agbarus, Thaddeus, thou doest these things 
by the power of God, and we are filled with wonder. But, be- 
side these things, I request thee, also, to inform me respecting the 
coming of Jesus, how he was born, and as to his power, with what 
power he performed these things which we have heard. And 
Thaddeus answered, Now, indeed, 1 will not tell thee, since I have 
been sent to proclaim the word abroad ; but to-morrow assemble 
all thy citizens, and before them I will proclaim the word of God, 
and will sow among them the word of life, both respecting the 
coming of Jesus, as he was, and respecting his mission, and for 
what purpose he was sent by the Father ; also, concerning the 
power of his works, and the mysteries which he declared in the 
world ; by what power, also, he did these tilings, concerning his 
new mode of preaching, his lowly and abject condition, his humi- 
liation in his external appearance, how he humbled himself, and 
died, and lowered his divinity ; what things, also, he suffered from 
the Jews ; how he was crucified, and descended into hell, (hades,) 
and burst the bars which had never yet been broken, and rose 
again, and also raised with himself the dead that had slept for 
ages. And how he descended alone, but ascended with, a great 
multitude to his Father. And how he sitteth at the right hand 
of God and the Father, ^vith glory, in the heavens ; and how he 
is about to come again with glory and power, to judge the living 
and dead. — Agbarus, therefore, commanded his subjects to be 
called early in the morning, and to hear the annimciation of 
Thaddeus ; and after this, he commanded gold and silver to be 
given him ; but he would not receive it, saying, If we have left 
our o^vn, how shall we take what belongs to others? These 
things were done in the three hundred and fortieth year. Which 
also, we have hterally translated from the Syriac language, op- 
portunely as we hope, and not without profit. 



BOOK 11. 



PRELIMINARY. 

Whatsoever particulars it was necessary for us to premise in 
this Ecclesiastical History, both respecting the divinity of the 
saving word and the antiquity of the doctrines which we teach^ 
as also of the antiquity of that evangelical life which Christians 
lead, these particulars we have already discussed, together with 
the circumstances of his late appearance among men, of his suf- 
ferings, of the election of his apostles, and have exhibited the 
proofs in the condensed subjects of the preceding book. Let us 
now, also, examine the circumstances that followed his ascension, 
presenting some from the divine Scriptures, and others from such 
other documents to which we shall have occasion to refer. 



CHAPTER L 

The course pursued by the Apostles after the ascension of Christ 

First then, in the place of Judas the traitor, Matthias was 
chosen by lot, who, as was shown above, was also one of the 
disciples of the Lord. There were appointed also, with prayer 
and the imposition of hands, by the apostles, approved men, unto 
the office of deacons, for the pubhc service ; these were those 
seven of whom Stephen was one. He was the first, also, after 
our Lord, who at the time of ordination, as if ordained to this 
very purpose, was stoned to death by the murderers of the Lord. 
And thus he first received the crown answering to his name, of 
the victorious martyrs of Christ. Then also James, called the 
brother of our Lord, because he is also called the son of Joseph. 

48 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 49 

For Joseph was esteemed the father of Christ, because the Virgm 
being betrothed to him, " she was found with child by the Holy- 
Ghost before they came together," as the narrative of the holy 
gospels shews. This James, therefore, whom the ancients, on ac- 
count of the excellence of his virtue, surnamed the Just, was the 
first that received the episcopate of the church at Jerusalem. But 
Clement, in the sixth book of his Institutions, represents it thus : 
" Peter, and James, and John, after the ascension of our Saviour, 
though they had been preferred by our Lord, did not contend for 
the honour, but chose James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem." 
And the same author, in the seventh book of the same work, 
writes also thus : " The Lord imparted the gift of knowledge to 
James the Just, to John and Peter after his resurrection, these de- 
livered it to the rest of the apostles, and they to the seventy, of 
whom Barnabas was one. There were, however, two Jameses ; 
one called the Just, who was thrown from a wing of the temple, 
and beaten to death with a fuller's club, and another, who was 
beheaded. Paul also makes mention of the Just in his epistles. 
" But other of the apostles," says he, " saw I none, save James the 
brother of our Lord." About this time also, the circumstances of 
our Saviour's promise, in reference to the king of the Osrhoenians, 
took place. For Thomas, under a divine impulse, sent Thaddeus 
as herald and evangelist, to proclaim the doctrine of Christ, as we 
have shown from the public documents found there. 

When he came to these places, he both healed Agbarus by the 
word of Christ, and astonished all there with the extraordinary 
miracles he performed. After having sufficiently disposed them 
by his works, and led them to adore the power of Christ, he made 
them disciples of the Saviour's doctrine. And even to this day, the 
whole city of Edessa is devoted to the name of Christ ; exhibiting 
no common evidence of the beneficence of our Saviour likewise 
to them. And let this suffice, as taken from the accounts given 
in ancient documents. But let us pass again to the Holy Scrip- 
tures. As the first and greatest persecution arose among the Jews 
after the martyrdom of Stephen, against the church of Jerusalem, 
and all the disciples except the twelve were scattered throughout 
Judea and Samaria ; some, as the Holy Scriptures sav, coming as 

G 



50 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

far as Phoenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, they were not yet in a 
situation to venture to impart the faith to the nations, and there- 
fore only announced it to the Jews. During this time, Paul also 
was yet laying waste the church, entering the houses of the be- 
lievers, dragging away men and women, and delivering them over 
to prison. Philip, also, one of those who had been ordained to the 
office of deacons, being among those scattered abroad, went down 
to Samaria. Filled with divine power, he first proclaimed the 
divine word to the inhabitants of that place. But so greatly did 
the divine grace co-operate with him, that even Simon Magus, 
with a great number of other men, were attracted by his dis- 
courses. But Simon had become so celebrated at that time, and 
had such influence with those that were deceived by his impos- 
tures, that they considered him the great power of God. This 
same Simon, also, astonished at the extraordinary miracles per- 
formed by Philip through the power of God, artfully assumed, and 
even pretended faith in Christ, so far as to be baptized ; and what 
is surprising, the same thing is done even to this day, by those 
who adopt his most foul heresy. These, after the manner of their 
founder, insinuating themselves into the church, like a pestilential 
and leprous disease, infected those with the greatest corruption, 
into whom they were able to infuse their secret, irremediable, and 
destructive poison. Many of these, indeed, have already been 
expelled, when they were caught in their wickedness ; as Simon 
himself, when detected by Peter, suffered his deserved punish- 
ment. For as the annunciation of the Saviour's gospel was daily 
advancing, by a certain divine providence, a prince of the queen 
of the Ethiopians, as it is a custom that still prevails there to be 
governed by a female, was brought thither, and was the first of 
the Gentiles that received of the mysteries of the divine word 
from Philip. The apostle, led by a vision, thus instructed him ; 
and he, becoming the first fruits of believers throughout the world, 
is said to have been the first, on returning to his country, that 
proclaimed the knowledge of God and the salutary abode of our 
Saviour among men. So that, in fact, the prophecy obtained its 
fulfilment through him : " Ethiopia stretcheth forth her hands unto 
God." After this, Paul, that chosen vessel, not of men, nor through 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 51 

men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself, and God the 
Father, who raised him from the dead, is appointed an apostle, 
being honoured with the call by a vision and voice of revelation 
from heaven. 



CHAPTER 11. 



How Tiherms was affected, when informed by Pilate respecting 

Christ. 

The fame of our Lord's remarkable resurrection and ascension 
being now spread abroad, according to an ancient custom preva- 
lent among the rulers of the nations, to communicate novel occur- 
rences to the emperor, that nothing might escape him, Pontius 
Pilate transmits to Tiberius an account of the circumstances con- 
cerning the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, the report of 
which had already been spread throughout all Palestine. In this 
account, he also intimated that he ascertained other miracles re- 
specting him, and that having now risen from the dead, he was be- 
Keved to be a God by the great mass of the people. Tiberius re- 
ferred the matter to the senate, but it is said they rejected the 
proposition, in appearance, because they had not examined into this 
subject first, according to an ancient law among the Romans, that 
no one should be ranked among the gods unless by a vote and de- 
cree of the senate; in reaUty, however, because the salutary doc- 
trine of the gospel needs no confirmation and co-operation of men. 

The senate of the Romans, therefore, having thus rejected the 
doctrine of our Saviour as it was announced, and Tiberius still 
continuing to hold the opinion he had before cherished, formed no 
imreasonable projects against the doctrine of Christ. This is the 
testimony of TertuUian, a man who made himself accurately ac- 
quainted with the laws of the Romans, and, besides his emi- 
nence in other respects, was particularly distinguished among the 
eminent men of Rome, and in his Apology for the Christians in 
the Roman tongue, which is also translated into the Greek, to give 
his own words, writes after the following manner . " In order to 



52 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

give also an account of these laws from their origin, it was an an- 
cient decree, that no one should be consecrated a god by the em- 
peror, before it had been approved by the senate. Marcus Aure- 
Kus has done this, in reference to a certain idol, Alburnus, so that 
this evidence has been given in favour of our doctrine, that divine 
dignity is conferred among you by the decrees of men. Unless a 
god pleases men he is not made a god ; and thus, according to this 
procedure, it is necessary that man should be propitious to the 
god. Tiberius, therefore, under whom the name of Christ was 
spread throughout the world, when this doctrine was announced 
to him from Palestine, where it first began, communicated with 
the senate, being obviously pleased with the doctrine ; but the 
senate, as they had not proposed the measure, rejected it. But 
he continued in his opinion, threatening death to the accusers of 
the Christians ; a divine providence infusing this into his mind, that 
the gospel having freer scope in its commencement, might spread 
every where over the world." 



CHAPTER in. 

Haw the Christian doctrine soon spread throughmU the whole world. 

Thus, then, under a celestial influence and co-operation, the 
doctrine of the Saviour, like the rays of the sun, quickly irra- 
diated the whole world. Presently, in accordance with divine 
prophecy, the sound of his inspired evangelists and apostles had 
gone throughout all the earth, and their words to the ends of the 
world. Throughout every city and village, like a replenished 
barn floor, churches were rapidly found abounding, and filled 
with members from every people. Those who, in consequence of 
the delusions that had descended to them from their ancestors, 
had been fettered by the ancient disease of idolatrous supersti- 
tion, were now liberated, by the power of Christ, through the 
teaching and miracles of his messengers. And, as if delivered from 
dreadful masters, and emancipated from the most cruel bondage, 
on the one hand renounced the whole multitude of gods and de- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 53 

mons, and on the other, confessed that there was only one true 
God, the Creator of all things. This same God they now also 
honoured with the rites of a true piety, under the influence 
of that inspired and reasonable worship which had been planted 
among men by our Saviour. But the gratuitous benevolence 
of God, being now poured out also upon the rest of the nations, 
Cornelius was the first of Cesarea in Palestine, who, with his 
whole house, received the faith in Christ, through a divine vision 
and the agency of Peter ; as did also a great number of Greeks 
at Antioch, to whom the gospel had been preached by those who 
were scattered by the persecution of Stephen. 

The church at Antioch, also, now flourishing and abounding in 
members, and the greatest number of teachers coming hither 
from Jerusalem, with whom were Barnabas and Paul, and many 
other brethren with them, the epithet of Christians first sprung 
up at that place, as from a grateful and productive soil. Agabus, 
also, one of the assembled prophets, uttered a prediction respect- 
ing the impending famine, and Paul and Barnabas were delegated 
to proceed to the relief of the necessities of the brethren. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Caius {Caligula) after the death of Tiberius, appoints Agrippa 
king of the Jeics, after punishing Herod loiih perpetual exile. 

Tiberius died after having reigned about twenty-two years, 
and Caius, receiving the empire next, immediately conferred the 
Jewish government on Agrippa, appointing him king over the 
tetrarchy both of Philip and Lysanias. To these, not long after, 
he adds also the tetrarchy of Herod, after having inflicted the 
punishment of perpetual exile upon Herod, together with his 
wife Herodias, for their numerous crimes. This was the Herod 
who was concerned in the passion of our Sa\dour. Josephus 
bears testimony to these facts. During the reign of this emperor, 
Philo became noted, a man most distinguished for his learning, 
not only among very many of our own, but of those that came 



54 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

from abroad. As to his origin, he was a descendant of the He- 
brews, inferior to none at Alexandria in point of dignity of family 
and birth. As to the divine Scriptures, and the institutions of his 
country, how greatly and extensively he laboured, his work 
speaks for itself And how well skilled in philosophy and the 
liberal studies of foreign countries, there is no necessity to say, 
since, as he was a zealous follower of the sect of Plato and Py- 
thagoras, he is said to have surpassed all of his contemporaries. 



CHAPTER V. 

Philo was sent on an embassy to Caius, in behalf of the Jews. 

This author has given us an account of the sufferings of the Jews 
in the reign of Caius, in five books. He there also relates the 
madness of Caius, who called himself a god, and was guilty of 
innumerable oppressions in the exercise of his power. He men- 
tions the miseries of the Jews under him, and the embassy which 
he himself performed when sent to the city of Rome, in behalf 
of his countrymen at Alexandria ; how that when he pleaded be- 
fore Caius, for the laws and institutions of his ancestors, he re- 
ceived nothing but laughter and derision in return, and had well 
nigh incurred the risk of his life. Josephus also mentions these 
things in the eighteenth book of his Antiquities, in these words : 

" A sedition having also arisen between the Jews dwelling at 
Alexandria and the Greeks, three chosen deputies are sent from 
each of the factions, and these appeared before Caius. One of 
the Alexandrian deputies was Apion, who uttered many slanders 
against the Jews ; among other things, saying, that they treated 
the honours of Cesar with contempt, that whilst all others, as 
many as were subject to the Roman empire, erected altars and 
temples to Caius, and in other respects regarded him as a god, 
they alone considered it disgraceful to raise statues to his honour, 
and to swear by his name. Apion having thus uttered many and 
severe charges by which he hoped that Caius would be roused, as 
was very probable, Philo, the chief of the Jewish embassy, a man 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 55 

illustrious in every respect, being the brother of Alexander, the 
Alabarch,* and not unskilled in philosophy, was well prepared to 
enter upon a defence against these charges. But he was pre- 
cluded from this by Caius, who ordered him straightway to be 
gone, and as he was very much incensed, it was very evident that 
he was meditating some great evil against them. Philo departed, 
covered with insult, and told the Jews that were with him, they had 
good reason to console themselves, that although Caius was enraged 
at them, he was already in fact challenging God against himself." 
Thus far Josephus. And Philo himself, in the embassy which he 
describes, details the particulars of what was then done to him, 
with great accuracy. Passing by the greatest part of these, I 
shall only state those by which it will be made manifest to the 
reader, that these things happened to the Jews forthwith, and 
at no distant period, on account of those things which they dared 
to perpetrate against Christ. First, then, he relates, that in the 
reign of Tiberius, at Rome, Sejanus, who was then in great favour 
with Tiberius, had made every efibrt to destroy the whole nation 
of the Jews from the foundation, and that in Judea Pontius Pilate, 
under whom the crimes were committed against our Saviour, 
having attempted something contrary to what was lawful among 
the Jews respecting the temple at Jerusalem, which was then 
yet standing, excited them to the greatest tumults. 



CHAPTER VI. 



What evils overwhelmed the Jews, after their presumption against 

Christ. 

After the death of Tiberius, Caius having received the go- 
vernment, besides many other innumerable acts of tyranny against 
many, did not a little afflict the whole nation of the Jews particu- 
larly. We may soon learn this, from the declaration of the same 

* Alabarch.] The Alabarch was the chief magistrate among the Jews at 
Alexandria. 



66 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

author, in which he writes as follows : " So great was the caprice 
of Caius in his conduct towards all, but especially towards the na- 
tion of the Jews. As he was excessively hostile to these, he appro- 
priated their places of worship to himself in all the cities, begin- 
ning with those at Alexandria, filling them with his images and 
statues. For having permitted it when others erected them of 
their own accord, he now began to erect them by absolute com- 
mand. But the temple in the holy city, which had been left un- 
touched as yet, and been endowed with privileges as an inviolable 
asylum, he changed and transformed into a temple of his own, 
that it should be publicly called the temple of Caius the younger, 
the visible Jupiter. (eTtt^avovg Atog-) Many other and almost in- 
describable calamities, the same author relates, as happening to the 
Jews of Alexandria, during the reign of the aforesaid emperor, in 
his second book, to which he gave the title, ' On the Virtues.^ Jo- 
sephus also agrees with him, who likewise intimates that the ca- 
lamities of the whole nation took their rise from the times of Pi- 
late, and the crimes against our Saviour. Let us hear then, what 
he also says in the second book of the Jewish War. " Pilate 
being sent by Tiberias as procurator of Judea, at night carried 
the covered images of Caesar into the temple ; these are called 
statues. The following day, this excited the greatest disturbance 
among the Jews. For they that were near, were confounded at 
the sight, as a contemptuous prostitution of their legal institutions; 
for they do not allow any image to be set up in their city." Com- 
paring these accounts with the writings of the evangelists, you 
vdll perceive, that it was not long before that exclamation came 
upon them, which they uttered under the same Pilate, and by 
which they cried again and again that they had no other king 
but Caesar. After this, the same historian records, that forthwith 
another calamity overtook them, in these words : " But after these 
things, he (i. e. Pilate,) excited another tumult, by expending the 
public treasure which is called Corban, in the construction of an 
aqueduct. This extended nearly three hundred stadia, (furlongs, 
i. e. from the city.) The multitude were sorely grieved at it ; and 
when Pilate came to Jerusalem, surrounding the tribunal, they 
began to cry out against him. But having anticipated their 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 57 

tumult, he planted his armed soldiers against the multitude, and 
previously intermixed them, concealed under the same com- 
mon dress with the people. He had also forbidden them to use 
their swords, but ordered them to strike the noisy with clubs. 
The signal he gave from the tribunal. The Jews being thus 
beaten, many of them perished in consequence of the blows, many 
also being trodden to death by their own countrymen in the flight. 
The multitude thus overawed by the misfortune of those slain, 
held their peace." The same writer mentions innumerable other 
commotions that were raised beside these, in Jerusalem itself; 
showing that from that time tumults, and wars, and plots of mis- 
chief, one after another, never ceased in the city and all Judea, 
until, last of all, the siege of Vespasian overwhelmed them. Thus, 
then, the divine justice overtook the Jews in this way, for their 
crimes against Christ. 



CHAPTER VIL 

How Pilate destroyed himself. 

It is proper also, to observe, how it is asserted that this same 
Pilate, who was governor at our Saviour's crucifixion, in the reign 
of Caius, whose times we are recording, fell into such calamities 
that he was forced to become his own murderer, and the avenger 
of his ovm wdckedness. Divine justice, it seems, did not long pro- 
tract his punishment. This is stated by those Greek historians, 
who have recorded the Olympiads in order, together with the 
transactions of the times. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The famine that happened in the reign of Claudius. 

Caius, however, had not reigned four years, when he was suc- 
ceeded by Claudius, in the sovereignty of the empire. In his reign 

H 



S8 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

there was a famine that prevailed over the wliole world; an 
event, indeed, which has been handed down bj historians very- 
far from our doctrine ; and by which the prediction of the pro- 
phet Agabus, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, respecting the 
impending famine over the whole world, received its fulfilment. 
Luke, however, in the Acts, after stating the famine in the time 
of Claudius, and after recording how by means of Paul and Barna- 
bas, the brethren at Antioch had sent to those of Judea, accord- 
ing to the ability of each one, also adds the following. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The martyrdom of the Apostle James. 

" About this time, (it is manifest he means the reign of Clau- 
dius,) Herod the king prepared to afflict some of the church. But 
he slew James, the brother of John with the sword." Of this 
James, Clement adds a narrative worthy of note, in the seventh 
book of his Institutions, evidently recording it according to the 
tradition which he had received from his ancestors. He says, that 
the man who led him to the judgment seat, seeing him bearing 
his testimony to the faith, and moved by the fact, confessed him- 
self a Cnristian. Both therefore, says he, were led away to die. 
On their way, he entreated Ja^es to be forgiven of him, and 
James considering a little, replied, " Peace be to thee," and kissed 
him ; and then both were beheaded at the same time. Then also, 
as the Scriptures say, Herod, at the death of James, seeing that 
the deed gave pleasure to the Jews, also attacks Peter, and hav- 
ing committed him to prison, had well nigh executed the same 
murderous intention against him, had he not been wonderfully 
delivered from his prison by an angel appearing to him at night, 
and thus liberated to proclaim the gospel. Such wzis the provi- 
dence of God in behalf of Peter. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 59 



CHAPTER X. 

Herod Agrippa persecuting the Apostles, immediately experienced 
the divine judgment. 

The consequences, however, of the king's attempts against the 
apostles, were not long deferred, but the avenging minister of 
divine justice soon overtook him after his plots against the apos- 
tles. As it is also recorded in the book of Acts, he proceeded to 
Cesarea, and there on a noted festival, being clad in a splendid 
and royal dress, he harangued the people from an elevation be- 
fore the tribunal. The whole people applauding him for his 
harangue, as if it were the voice of a god, and not of man, the 
Scriptures relate, " that the angel of the Lord immediately smote 
him, and being consumed by worms, he gave up the ghost." It 
is wonderful to observe, likewise, in this singular event, the coin- 
cidence of the history given by Josephus, with that of the sacred 
Scriptures. In this he plainly adds his testimony to the truth, in 
the nineteenth book of his Antiquities, where he relates the mira- 
cles in the following words : " But he (i. e. Herod) had completed 
the third year of his reign over all Judea, and he came to the 
city of Cesarea, which was formerly called the tower of Strato. 
There he exhibited public shows in honour of Cesar, knowing it to 
be a kind of festival for his safety. At this festival was collected 
a great number of those who were the first in power and dignity 
throughout the province. On the second day of the shows, being clad 
in a robe all wrought with silver, of a wonderful texture, he pro- 
ceeded to the theatre at the break of day. There, the silver irra- 
diated ^^dth the reflection of the earliest sunbeams, wonderfully ght- 
tered, reflecting a terrific and awful brilliancy upon the beholders. 
Presently the flatterers raised their shouts in different ways ; such, 
however, as were not for his good, calling him a god, and implor- 
ing his clemency in such language as this : " We have feared thee 
thus far as a man, but henceforth we confess thee to be superior 
to the nature of mortals." The king did not either chide them, 
or disclaim the impious flattery. After a little while, raising him- 



60 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

self, he saw an angel sitting above his head. This he immediately 
perceived was the cause of evils, as it had once been the cause of 
his successes. And he felt a pain through his heart, and a sud- 
den pang seize his bowels, which began to torment him with great 
violence. Turning, then, to his friends, he said, " I, your god, am 
now commanded to depart this life, and fate wdll soon disprove 
your false assertions respecting me. He whom you have called 
an immortal, is now compelled to die, but we must receive our 
destiny as it is determined by God. Neither have we passed our 
life ingloriously, but in that splendour which is so much extolled." 
Saying this, he laboured much with the increase of pain. He 
was then carried with great haste into the palace, while the 
report spread throughout the people, that the king at all events 
would soon die. But the multitude with their wives and chiL 
dren, after their country's custom, sitting in sackcloth, implored 
God in behalf of the king; all places were filled with lamen- 
tation and weeping. But the king, as he lay reclining in an 
elevated chamber, and looking down upon them falling pros- 
trate to the ground, could not refrain from tears himself. At 
length, overpowered by the pain of his bowels, for four days in 
succession, he ended his life, in the fifty-fourth year of his age 
and seventh of his reign. He reigned, therefore, four years 
under Caius Cesar, had the tetrarchy of Philip three years, and 
received that of Herod in the fourth year, reigning subsequently 
three years under Claudius Cesar." Thus far Josephus : in which 
statement, as in others, so in this, I cannot but admire his agree- 
ment with the divine Scriptures. But if he should appear to any 
to differ, in regard to the epithet of the king ; yet the time and 
the fact show that it was the same individual, whether it happen- 
ed by an error in writing that the name was changed, or in con- 
sequence of a double name applied to him ; such as was the case 
with manv. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 61 

CHAPTER XL 

Concerning the impostor Theudas and his folloicers. 

As Luke in the Acts, also introduces Gamaliel in the consulta- 
tion respecting the apostles, saying, that at this time "arose 
Theudas, who gave out that he was some one, hut who was de- 
stroyed, and all that obeyed him were dispersed," let us now, 
also, add the written testimony of Josephus respecting the same 
circumstance. He relates, in the book already quoted, the fol- 
lowing particulars. " While Fadus was procurator of Judea, a 
certain impostor called Theudas persuaded the multitude to take 
their possessions with them and follow him to the river Jordan. 
For he said he was a prophet, and that the Jordan should be di- 
vided at his command, and afford them an easy passage through 
it. And with such promises he deceived many. But Fadus did 
not suffer them to enjoy their folly, but sent a troop of horsemen 
against them, who, falling upon them unexpectedly, slew many 
and took many alive ; but having taken Theudas himself captive, 
they cut off* his head and carried it to Jerusalem." Besides this, he 
also mentions the famine that took place under Claudius, as fol- 
lows. 



CHAPTER XIL 

Helen, queen of the Osrhoenians. 



About this time it happened that the great famine took place 
in Judea, in which also queen Helen having purchased grain from 
Egypt, with large sums, distributed to the needy. You will also 
find this statement in accordance with that in the Acts of the 
Apostles, where it is said, that according to the ability of the dis- 
ciples at Antioch, they determined, each one, to send to the as- 
sistance of those in Judea. Which also they did, sending to the 
elders by the hands of Barnabas and Paul. Of this same Helen, 



62 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

mentioned by the historian, splendid monuments are still to be 
seen in the suburbs of the city (Jerusalem) now called iElia. 
But she is said to have been queen of the Adiabeni. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Simon Magus. 

The faith of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, having now 
been diffused abroad among all men, the enemy of salvation de- 
vising some scheme of seizing upon the imperial city for himself, 
brought thither Simon, whom we mentioned before. Coming to 
the aid of his insidious artifices, he attached many of the inha- 
bitants of Rome to himself, in order to deceive them. This is at- 
tested by Justin, who was one of our distinguished writers, not long 
after the times of the apostles, concerning whom I shall say what 
is necessary in the proper place. The reader may see for him- 
self, in the first defence of our religion, addressed to Antonine, 
where he writes thus: "And after the ascension of our Lord into 
heaven, certain men were suborned by demons as their agents, 
who said that they were gods. These were not only suffered to 
pass without persecution, but were even deemed worthy of ho- 
nours by you. Simon, a certain Samaritan of the village called 
Githon, was one of the number, who, in the reign of Claudius Ce- 
sar, performed many magic rites by the operation of demons, was 
considered a god, in your imperial city of Rome, and was honoured 
by you with a statue as a god, in the river Tiber, (on an island,) 
between the two bridges, having the superscription in Latin, Si- 
moni Deo Sancto, which is. To Simon the Holy God ; and nearly 
all the Samaritans, a few also of other nations, worship him, con- 
fessing him as the Supreme God. A certain Helen also, is of this 
class, who had before been a public prostitute in Tyre of Pheni- 
cia, and at that time attached herself to Simon, and was called 
the first idea that proceeded from him." Such is the testimony 
of Justin, with which also Irenaeus coincides in his first book 
against Heresies, where he also subjoins an account of the impiety 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 63 

and corrupt doctrine of the man, which it would be superfluous 
for us to detail, as it is in the power of those who wish to learn 
the origin, and the lives, and the false doctrines, not only of this 
one, but likewise of all the heresiarchs respectively, as also of the 
institutions and principles of all of them, treated at large in the 
abovementioned book of Irenasus. Simon, however, we have under- 
stood to have taken the lead in all heresy ; from whom also, down 
to the present time, those that followed his heresy, still affected 
the modest philosophy of the Christians, so celebrated for purity 
of life among all. From this, however, they appeared again to 
depart, and again to embrace the superstitions of idols, falling 
down before the pictures and statues of this selfsame Simon, and 
the aforesaid Helen with him ; venturing to offer them worship by 
incense, and sacrifices, and libations. Those matters which are 
kept more secret by them than these, at the first mention of which 
they say one would be astonished, and to use an oracular phrase 
with them, would be confounded, they happen in truth to be so 
full of amazement, and folly, and madness, such as they are, that 
it is not only impossible to commit them to writing, but even to 
utter them vnth the lips to modest men, on account of their ex- 
cessive baseness and obscenity. For every vile corruption that 
could either be done or devised, is practised by this most abomi- 
nable heresy, of a sect that ensnare those wretched females who 
are Hterally overwhehned with every kind of vice. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The preaching of Peter in the city of Rome. 

Such was the wdckedness of which that mahgnant power, the 
enemy of all good, and the waylayer of human salvation, consti- 
tuted Simon the father and author at this time, as if with a view 
to make him a great and powerful antagonist to the divine pur- 
poses of our Saviour and his apostles. Nevertheless, that divine 
and celestial grace which co-operates with its servants, by their 
appearance and presence, soon extinguished the flame that had 



64 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

been kindled by the wicked one, humbling and casting down 
through them, "every height that elevated itself against the 
knowledge of God." V^Tierefore, neither the conspiracy of Simon, 
nor that of any other one then existing, was able to effect anything 
against those apostolic times. For the declaration of the truth 
prevailed and overpowered all, and the divine word itself, now 
shining from heaven upon men, and flourishing upon earth, and 
dwelling with his apostles, prevailed and overpowered every op- 
position. Immediately the aforesaid impostor being smitten as to 
his mental eye, by a divine and supernatural brilliancy, as when, 
on a former occasion in Judea, he was convicted of his wicked- 
ness by the apostle Peter, he undertook a great journey from the 
east across the sea, and fled to the west, thinking that this was 
the only way for him to live according to his mind. Entering the 
city of Rome, by the co-operatioa of that malignant spirit which 
had fixed its seat there, his attempts were soon so far successful, 
as to be honoured as a god, with the erection of a statue by the 
inhabitants of that city. This, however, did not continue long ; 
for immediately under the reign of Claudius, by the benign and 
gracious providence of God, Peter, that powerful and great apos- 
tle, who by his courage took the lead of all the rest, was conducted 
to Rome against this pest of mankind. He, like a noble com- 
mander of God, fortified with divine armour, bore the precious 
merchandize of the revealed light from the east to those in the 
west, announcing the light itself, and salutary doctrine of the soul 
the proclamation of the kingdom of God. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Gospel according to Mark, 

The divine word having thus been established among the Ro- 
mans, the power of Simon was soon extinguished and destroyed 
together with the man. So greatly, however, did' the splendour 
of piety enlighten the minds of Peter's hearers, that it was not 
sufficient to hear but once, nor to receive the unwritten doctrine 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 65 

of the gospel of God, but they persevered in every variety of en- 
treaties, to solicit Mark as the companion of Peter, and whose 
gospel we have, that he should leave them a monument of the 
doctrine thus orally communicated, in writing. Nor did they cease 
their solicitations until they had prevailed with the man, and thus 
become the means of that history which is called the Gospel ac- 
cording to Mark. They say also, that the apostle (Peter,) having 
ascertained what was done by the revelation of the spirit, was 
delighted with the zealous ardour expressed by these men, and 
that the history obtained his authority for the purpose of being 
read in the churches. This account is given by Clement, in the 
sixth book of his Institutions, whose testimony is corroborated also 
by that of Papias, bishop of Hierapolis. But Peter makes men- 
tion of Mark in the first epistle, which he is also said to have com- 
posed at the same city of Rome, and that he shows this fact, by 
calling the city by an unusual trope, Babylon ; thus, " The church 
at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you, as also my 
son Marcus." 1 Pet. v. 13. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Mark first proclaimed Christianity to the inhabitants of Egypt 

The same Mark, they also say, being the first that was sent to 
Egypt, proclaimed the gospel there which he had written, and 
first estabHshed churches at the city of Alexandria. And so great 
a multitude of believers, both of men and women, were collected 
there at the very outset, that in consequence of their extreme 
philosophical discipline and austerity, Philo has considered their 
pursuits, their assemblies, and entertainments, and in short their 
whole manner of life, as deserving a place in his descriptions. 



66 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

The account given hy Philo respecting the Ascetics of Egypt. 

The same author, in the reign of Claudius, is also said to have 
had familiar conversation with Peter at Rome, v^^hilst he was pro- 
claiming the gospel to the inhabitants of that city. Nor is this at 
all improbable ; since the work of which we now speak, and which 
was subsequently composed by him at a late period, evidently 
comprehends the regulations that are still observed in our 
churches, even to the present time ; but at the same time that he 
describes with the greatest accuracy, the lives of our ascetics, he 
evidently shows that he not only knew, but approved, whilst he 
extolled and revered the apostolic men of his day, who were sprung 
probably from the Hebrews ; and hence, still continuing to observe 
their most ancient customs, rather after the Jewish manner. In 
the book that he wrote, "On a Contemplative Life, or those who 
lead a Life of Prayer," he avers indeed, that he would add nothing 
contrary to the truth, or of his own invention, in the history that 
he was about to write, where he says, that these persons are 
called Therapeutae, and the women Therapeutrides. 

Subjoining the reasons of such an appellation, he refers its 
origin either to the fact, that Hke physicians, by removing the 
evil affections, they healed and cured the minds of those that 
joined them, or to their pure and sincere mode of serving and 
worshipping the Deity. Whether Philo himself attached this 
name to them of his own accord, giving an epithet well suited to 
the manners of the people, or whether the founders really called 
themselves so from the beginning, as the name of Christians was 
not yet spread to every place, are points that need not be so ac- 
curately determined. He bears witness, however, that they re- 
nounced their property, saying, that " as soon as they commenced 
a philosophical life, they divested themselves of their property, 
giving it up to their relatives ; then laying aside all the cares of 
life, they abandon the city and take up their abode in solitary 
fields and gardens, well knowing that the intercourse with per- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 67 

sons of a different character is not only unprofitable but inju- 
rious." There were at this time, in all probability, persons who, 
under the influence of an inspired and ardent faith, instituted this 
mode of life in imitation of the ancient prophets. Wherefore, as 
it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, a book well authenti- 
cated, that all., the associates of the apostles, after selling their 
possessions and substance distributed to all according to the ne- 
cessity of each one, so that there was none in want among them. 
" For as many as had lands and houses, as this account says, sell- 
ing them, brought the value of the property sold, and laid it at 
the apostles' feet, so as to distribute to each one according to 
his necessity." Philo giving his testimony to facts very much hke 
these, in the same description superadds the following statement. 
" This kind of men is every where scattered over the world, for 
both Greeks and barbarians should share in so permanent a be- 
nefit. They abound, however, in Egypt, in each of its districts, 
and particularly about Alexandria. 

" But the principal men among them from every quarter emi- 
grate to a place situated on a moderate elevation of land beyond 
the lake Maria, very advantageously located both for safety and 
temperature of the air, as if it were the native country of the 
Therapeutas." After thus describing what kind of habitations 
they have, he speaks thus of the churches in the place. " In 
every house there is a sacred apartment which they call the 
Semnaeum, or Monasterium, where, retired from men, they per- 
form the mysteries of a pious life. Hither they bring nothing 
with them, neither drink nor food, nor anything else requisite to 
the necessities of the body ; they only bring the law and the in- 
spired declarations of the prophets, and hymns, and such things 
by which knowledge and piety may be augmented and perfect- 
ed." After other matters, he adds : " The whole time between 
the morning and evening, is a constant exercise ; for as they are 
engaged with the sacred Scriptures, they reason and comment 
upon them, explaining the philosophy of their country in an al- 
legorical manner. For they consider the verbal interpretation as 
signs indicative of a secret sense communicated in obscure inti- 
mations. They have also commentaries of ancient men, who, as 



68 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the founders of the sect, have left many monuments of their doc- 
trine in allegorical representations, which they use as certain 
models, imitating the manner of the original institution." These 
facts appear to have been stated by a man v^^ho, at least, has paid 
attention to those that have expounded the sacred writings. But 
it is highly probable, that the ancient commentaries which he 
says they have, are the very gospels and writings of the apostles, 
and probably some expositions of the ancient prophets, such as 
are contained in the epistle to the Hebrews and many others of 
St. Paul's epistles. Afterwards again, concerning the new psalms 
which they composed, he thus writes, " Thus they not only pass 
their time in meditation, but compose songs and hymns unto God, 
noting them of necessity with measure uncommonly serious, 
through every variety of metres and tunes." Many other things 
concerning these persons he writes in the same book. But these 
it appeared necessary to select, in order to present the peculiari- 
ties of their ecclesiastical discipline. But, if what has been said 
does not appear to any one to belong to the discipline of the gos- 
pel, but that it can also be applied to others besides those men- 
tioned, let him at least be convinced by the subsequent declara- 
tions of the author, in which, if he is at all impartial, he adduces 
an irrefragable testimony on the same subject. For thus he 
writes : " But laying down temperance first as a kind of founda- 
tion in their minds, upon this they build the other virtues. For 
none of them is to bring food or drink before the setting of the 
sun, since they judge that philosophical exercises should be pro- 
secuted in the light, but the necessities of the body in the dark 
Whence they assign the one to the day, and to the other a small 
portion of the night. But some of them do not remember their 
food for three days, when influenced by an uncommon desire of 
knowledge. And some are so delighted, and feast so luxuriously 
on the doctrines so richly and profusely furnished by wisdom, that 
they forbear even twice this time, and are scarcely induced to 
take necessary food even for six days." These declarations of 
Philo respecting those of our communion, we deem obvious and in 
disputable. But, should any one still be so hardy as to contra- 
dict, let him at least abandon his incredulity, by yielding to the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 69 

more powerful demonstrations, which is to be found among none 
but in the religion of Christians, according to the gospel. Our 
author also says, that there were also females that meet with 
those of whom we speak, of whom the most are aged maidens, 
preserving their puritj, not by necessity, as some of the priest- 
esses among the Greeks, but rather by a voluntary determination, 
in consequence of that zealous desire of wisdom, in the earnest pro- 
secution of which, they disregard the pleasures of the body ; as 
they are desirous not of a mortal progeny but an immortal, which 
the heavenly mind alone is able to produce of itself" After a Httle, 
he also adds the following, with still greater stress. " But they 
expound the sacred writings by obscure, allegorical, and figurative 
expressions. For the whole law appears to these persons like an 
animal, of which the hteral expressions are the body, but the 
invisible sense that lies enveloped in the expressions, the soul. 
This sense was first pre-eminently studied by this sect, discerning 
as through a mirror of names, the admirable beauties of the 
thoughts reflected." Why should we add to these their meetings, 
and the separate abodes of the men and the women in these 
meetings, and the exercises performed by them, which are still 
in vogue among us at the present day, and which, especially 
at the festival of our Saviour's passion, we are accustomed to 
pass in fcLsting and watching, and in the study of the divine 
word? All these the abovementioned author has accurately 
described and stated in his writings, and are the same customs 
that are observed by us alone, at the present day, particularly 
the vigils of the great festival,* and the exercises in them, and 
the hymns that are commonly recited among us. He states that 
whilst one sings gracefully with a certain measure, the others, 
listening in silence, join in singing the final clauses of the hymns ; 
also, that on the abovementioned days, they lie on straw spread 
on the ground, and to use his own words, " they abstain altogether 
from wine, and taste no flesh. Water is their only drink, and 
the rehsh of their bread, salt and hyssop." Besides this, he 
describes the grades of dignity among those who administer the 

* The great festival] Our author here speaks of the passion week, called by 
the Greek fathers, the Great Week. 



70 ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 

ecclesiastical services committed to them, those of the deacons 
and the presidencies of the episcopate as the highest. But, 
whosoever desires to have a more accurate knowledge of these 
things, may learn them from the history already cited ; but that 
Philo, when he wrote these statements, had in view the first he- 
ralds of the gospel, and the original practices handed down from 
the apostles, must be obvious to all. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

The hooks of Philo that have come down to us. 

This author, who was copious in language, comprehensive in 
thought, sublime and elevated in his views of the sacred Scrip- 
tures, has made his exposition of the sacred books equally dis- 
tinguished for variety of matter and manner. On the one hand 
he expounds the history of Genesis, in the books that he calls 
" Allegories of the Divine Laws," following the order of the book ; 
and on the other, he forms particular divisions of the chapters, 
according to the subject of the Scriptures, with the objections 
and solutions; in which same books also he prefixes the tables of 
the questions and solutions both in Genesis and Exodus respectively 
There are also, besides these, treatises on certain problems par- 
ticularly discussed, such as two " On Agriculture," and two " On 
Drunkenness," and some others distinguished by a different and 
peculiar title. Such as " On the things that a Sober Mind earn- 
estly desires, and those which it execrates ;" also, " On the Confu- 
sion of Tongues," and the treatise " On Flight and Discovery," and 
that " On Literary Convention," and " On the question, ' Who is 
Heir to things Divine? " or, "On the Division of Things into equal 
and unequal." Moreover, the treatise on the three virtues, which 
Moses records with others. Beside these, there is one " On those 
whose Names are changed, and wherefore their Names have been 
changed ;" in which he says, that he wrote also on the first and 
second covenant. There is also a work of the same author, " On 
Emigration, and on the Life of the Wise Man perfect in Righteous- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 71 

ness ;" or, " On the Unwritten Laws." Also, " On Giants," or " On 
the Immutability of God." And also, " On the Proposition, that 
Dreams, according to Moses, are sent by God" — five books. These 
are the books that have come down to us on Genesis, but on Ex- 
odus we are acquainted \^dth the first five books of Questions and 
Solutions; also, that "On the Tabernacle," that also "On the Ten 
Commandments;" also, the first four treatises on the laws re- 
ferring particularly to the summary heads of the ten command- 
ments. Also, the treatise " On the Sacrifice of Animals, and the 
Forms of Sacrifices ;" that also, " On the Rewards proposed in the 
Law to Good Men, and the Punishments and Curses to the Wicked." 
Besides all these, there are single books extant of the same author, 
as the treatises " On Providence," and the book composed by him 
" On the Jews," and " The Statesman." To this may be added 
" Alexander," or " On Irrational Animals evincing Reason." Be- 
side these " On the Proposition that a Wicked Man is a Slave ;" to 
this is subjoined the book, " That every good Man is free." After 
which he added the book " On a Contemplative Life, or the Devout," 
from which we have related the circumstances respecting the 
life of the apostolical men. Also, the interpretations of the He- 
brew names in the law and prophets, is said to be the result of 
his industry. The same author, in the reign of Caius, coming to 
Rome, is said to have recited before the whole senate, in the 
reign of Qaudius, what he wrote on the impiety of Caius, to w^hich 
he humorously prefixed the title " On the Virtues." And the dis- 
courses were so much admired as to be deemed worthy of a place 
in the libraries. During this time also, Paul finishing his journey 
from Jerusalem, and thence round to Illyricum, Qaudius expelled 
the Jews from Rome, at which time Aquila and Priscilla, with the 
other Jews that left Rome, went over into Asia. There they abode 
with the apostle, who was confirming those among whom churches 
had been already established by him; Of these facts we are also 
formed in the sacred book of the Acts. 



72 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The calamity which befel the Jews at Jerusalem, on the day of the 

Passover. 

Whilst Claudius held the government of the empire, it hap- 
pened about the festival of the passover, that so great a sedition 
and disturbance took place at Jerusalem, that thirty thousand 
Jews perished of those alone who were crowded out of the gates 
of the temple, and thus trodden to death by one another. Thus 
the festival became a season of mourning and weeping to the 
whole nation and every family. Tliis is almost literally the ac- 
count given by Josephus. But Claudius appointed Agrippa, the 
son of Agrippa, king of the Jews, having deputed Felix procura- 
tor of all Samaria and Galilee, and also of the region situated 
beyond Jordan. He died after a reign of thirteen years and 
eight months, leaving Nero as his successor in the empire. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The deeds done at Jerusalem in the reign of JVero. 

Josephus, in the twentieth book of his Antiquities, relates the 
sedition of the priests, which happened whilst Felix was governor 
of Judea, under the reign of Nero, in the following words: — 
•' There arose also a sedition between the chief priests on the 
one hand, and the priests and the leaders of the people at 
Jerusalem on the other. Each one of them forming collec- 
tions of the most daring and disaffected, became a leader, and 
when these met they encountered each other with invectives 
and stones. Amid these disturbances there was no one that would 
interpose to rebuke them, but all this was done with the greatest 
licentiousness, as in a state destitute of a ruler. So greatly also, 
was the shamelessness and audacity of the chief priests, that they 
dared to send forth their servants to the barns, to seize the tithes 
due to the priests ; and thus it happened that those of the priests 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 78 

that were destitute, saw themselves perishing for want. Thus 
did the violence of the factions prevail over all manner of justice." 
The same author again relates, that about the same time there 
sprung up a certain species of robbers at Jerusalem, " who," says 
he, " in broad day-Hght, and in the midst of the city, slew those 
whom they met ; but particularly at festivals, mixed with the 
multitude, and with short swords concealed under their garments, 
stabbed the more distinguished of the people. When these fell, 
the very murderers themselves took part in expressing their in- 
dignation with the bystanders, and thus by the credit which they 
had with all, they were not detected. And first, he says, that the 
high priest Jonathan was slaughtered by them ; and after him, 
many were slain from day to day, so that the alarm itself was 
more oppressive, than the very evils with which they were as- 
sailed ; whilst every one was in expectation of death, as in the 
midst of battle. 



CHAPTER XXL 

The Egyptian mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. 

Next in order, after other matters, he proceeds in his narra- 
tion. " But the Jews were afilicted with an evil greater than 
these, by the Egyptian impostor. Having come into the country, 
and assuming the authority of a prophet, he collected about thu-ty 
thousand that were seduced by him. He then led them forth 
from the desert to the Mount of Olives, determining to enter Je- 
rusalem by force, and after subduing the Roman garrison, to seize 
the government of the people, using his followers as body guards. 
But Felix anticipated his attack by going out to meet him with 
the Roman military, and all the people joined in the defence ; so 
that when the battle was fought, the Egyptian fled with a few, 
and the most of his followers were either destroyed or captured." 
This account is given by Josephus in the second book of his his- 
tory ; and it is worth while to subjoin also to this account respect- 
ing the Egyptian, also that which is mentioned in the Acts of the 

K 



74 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Apostles. It was there said to Paul, by the centurion under Fe- 
lix, when the multitude of the Jews raised a sedition against the 
apostle, " Art thou not indeed that selfsame Egyptian that ex- 
cited and led away the thirty thousand assassins into the desert ?" 
Such, however, were the events that happened under Felix. 



CHAPTER XXTI. 



Paul, being sent prisoner from Judea to Rome, after his defence, 
was absolved from all crime. 

Festus was sent by Nero as successor to Felix. Under him, 
Paul, after having pleaded his cause, was sent a prisoner to Rome. 
But Aristarchus was his companion, whom he also somewhere in 
his epistles calls his fellow-prisoner ; and here Luke, that wrote 
the Acts of the Apostles, after showing that Paul passed two whole 
years at Rome as a prisoner at large, and that he preached the 
gospel without restraint, brings his history to a close. After plead- 
ing his cause, he is said to have been sent again upon -the minis- 
try of preaching, and after a second visit to the city, that he 
finished his life with martyrdom. Whilst he was a prisoner, he 
wrote his second epistle to Timothy, in which he both mentions 
his first defence and his impending death. Hear, on these points, 
his own testimony respecting himself. " In my former defence no 
one was present with me, but all deserted me. May it not be laid 
to their charge. But the Lord was with me, and strengthened 
me, that through me the preaching of the gospel might be ful- 
filled, and all the nations might hear it. And I was rescued out 
of the lion's mouth." He plainly intimates in these words, " On 
the former occasion he was rescued from the lion's mouth, that 
the preaching of the gospel might be accomplished," that it was 
Nero to which he referred by this expression, as is probable on 
account of his cruelty. Therefore he did not subsequently sub- 
join any such expression as, " he will rescue me from the lion's 
mouth," for he saw in spirit how near his approaching death 
was. Hence, after the expression, " and I was rescued from the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 75 

lion's mouth," this also, " the Lorcf will rescue me from every evil 
work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom," indicating 
the martyrdom that he would soon suffer ; which he more clearly 
expresses in the same eipistle, " for I am already poured out, and 
the time of my departure is at hand." And indeed, in this second 
epistle to Timothy, he shows that Luke alone was with him when 
he wrote, but at his former defence not even he. Whence, it is 
probable, that Luke wrote his Acts of the Apostles about that 
time, continuing his history down to the time that he was with 
Paul. Thus much we have said, to show that the martyrdom 
of the apostle did not take place at that period of his stay at 
Kome when Luke wrote his history. It is indeed probable, that 
as Nero was more disposed to mildness in the beginning, that the 
defence of the apostle's doctrine would be more easily received ; 
but as he advanced to such criminal excesses as to disregard all 
right, the apostles also, with others, experienced the effects of the 
measures pursued against them. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

The martyrdom of James, who was called the brother of the Lord. 

But the Jews, after Paul had appealed to Caesar, and had been 
sent by Festus to Rome, frustrated in their hope of entrapping him 
by the snares they had laid, turn themselves against James, the 
brother of the Lord, to whom the episcopal seat at Jerusalem was 
committed by the apostles. The following were their nefarious 
measures also against him. Conducting him into a public place, 
they demanded that he should renounce the faith of Christ before 
all the people ; but contrary to the sentiments of all, with a firm 
voice, and much beyond their expectation, he declared himself 
fully before the whole multitude, and confessed that Jesus Christ 
was the Son of God, our Saviour and Lord. Unable to bear any 
longer the testimony of the man, who, on account of his elevated 
virtue and piety was deemed the most just of men, they seized 



76 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the opportunity of licentiousness afforded by the prevailing anar- 
chy, and slew him. For as Festus died about this time in Judea, 
the province was without a governor and head. But, as to the 
manner of James's death, it has been already stated in the words 
of Clement, that he was thrown from a wing of the temple, and 
beaten to death with a club. Hegesippus also, who flourished 
nearest the days of the apostles, in the fifth book of his Commen- 
taries gives the most accurate account of him, thus : " But James, 
the brother of the Lord, who, as there were many of this name, 
was surnamed the Just by all, from the days of our Lord until 
now, received the government of the church with the apostles. 
This apostle was consecrated from his mother's womb. He drank 
neither wine nor fermented liquors, and abstained from animal 
food. A razor never came upon his head, he never anointed with 
oil, and never used a bath. He alone was allowed to enter the 
sanctuary. He never wore woollen, but linen garments. He 
was in the habit of entering the temple alone, and was often found 
upon hjs bended knees, and interceding for the forgiveness of the 
people ; so that his knees became as hard as camel's, in consequence 
of his habitual supplication and kneeling before God. And indeed, 
on account of his exceeding great piety, he was called the Just, 
and Oblias (or Zaddick and Ozleam) which signifies justice and 
protection of the people ; as the prophets declare concerning him. 
Some of the seven sects, therefore, of the people, mentioned by me 
above in my Commentaries, asked him what was the door to Je- 
sus ? and he answered, ' that he was the Saviour.' " From which, 
some believed that Jesus is the Christ. But the aforesaid heresies 
did not believe either a resurrection, or that he was coming to 
give to every one according to his works ; as many however, as 
did believe did so on account of James. As there were many 
therefore of the rulers that believed, there arose a tumult among 
the Jews, Scribes, and Pharisees, saying that there was danger, 
that the people would now expect Jesus as the Messiah. They 
came therefore together, and said to James, " We entreat thee, 
restrain the people, who are led astray after Jesus, as if he were 
the Christ. We entreat thee to persuade all that are coming to 
the feast of the passover rightly concerning Jesus; for we all 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 77 

have confidence in thee. For we and all the people bear thee 
testimony that thou art just, and thou respectest not persons. 
Persuade therefore the people not to be led astray by Jesus, for 
we and all the people have great confidence in thee. Stand there- 
fore upon a wing of the temple, that thou mayest be conspicuous 
on high, and thy words may be easily heard by all the people ; for 
all the tribes have come together on account of the passover, with 
some of the Gentiles also. The aforesaid Scribes and Pharisees, 
therefore, placed James upon a wing of the temple, and cried out 
to him, * O thou just man, whom we ought all to beheve, since the 
people are led astray after Jesus that was crucified, declare to us 
what is the door to Jesus that was crucified.' And he answered 
with a loud voice, ' Why do ye ask me respecting Jesus the Son 
of Man ? He is now sitting in the heavens, on the right hand of 
great Power, and is about to come on the clouds of heaven.' And 
as many were confirmed, and gloried in this testimony of James, 
and said, Hosanna to the son of David, these same priests and 
Pharisees said to one another, ' We have done badly in affording 
such testimony to Jesus, but let us go up and cast him down, that 
they may dread to believe in him.' And they cried out, * Oh, oh, 
Justus himself is deceived,' and they fulfilled that which is writ- 
ten in Isaiah, ' Let us take away the just, because he is offensive 
to us ; wherefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.' Is. iii. 
Going up therefore, they cast down the just man, saying to one 
another, ' Let us stone James the Just' And they began to stone 
him, as he did not die immediately when cast down ; but turning 
round, he knelt down saying, ' I entreat thee, O Lord God and 
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' Thus 
they were stoning him, when one of the priests of the sons of Re- 
chab, a son of the Rechabites, spoken of by Jeremiah the pro- 
phet, cried out saying, * Cease, what are you doing ? Justus is 
praying for you.' And one of them, a fuller, beat out the brains 
of Justus with the club that he used to beat out clothes. Thus 
he suffered martyrdom, and they buried him on the spot where 
his tombstone is still remaining, by the temple. He became a 
faithful witness, both to the Jews and Greeks, that Jesus is the 
Christ. Immediately after this, Vespasian invaded and took Ju- 



78 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

dea." Such is the more ample testimony of Hegesippus, in which 
he fully coincides with Clement. So admirable a man indeed was 
James, and so celebrated among all for his justice, that even the 
wiser part of the Jews were of opinion that this was the cause of 
the immediate siege of Jerusalem, which happened to them for 
no other reason than the crime against him. Josephus also has 
not hesitated to superadd this testimony in his works : " These 
things," says he, " happened to the Jews to avenge James the 
Just, who was the brother of him that is called Christ, and 
whom the Jews had slain, notwithstanding his pre-eminent jus- 
tice." The same writer also relates his death, in the twentieth 
book of his Antiquities, in the follo\ving words : " But Cesar hav- 
ing learned the death of Festus, sends Albinus as governor of Ju- 
dea. But the younger Ananus, whom we mentioned before as ob- 
taining the priesthood, was particularly rash and daring in his 
disposition. He was also of the sect of the Sadducees, which are 
the most unmerciful of all the Jews in the execution of judgment, 
as we have already shown. Ananus, therefore, being of this cha- 
racter, and supposing that he had a suitable opportunity, in con- 
sequence of the death of Festus, and Albinus being yet on the 
way, calls an assembly of the judges ; and bringing thither the 
brother of Jesus who is called Christ, whose name was James, 
with some others, he presented an accusation against them, as if 
they had violated the law, and committed them to be stoned as 
criminals. But those of the city that seemed most moderate and 
most accurate in observing the law, were greatly offended at this, 
and secretly sent to the king, entreating him to send to A.nanus 
wdth the request not to do these things, saying that he had not 
acted legally even before. Some also went out to meet him as 
he came from Alexandria, and inform him that it was not lawful 
for Ananus to summon the sanhedrim without his knowledge. Al- 
binus, induced by this account, writes to Ananus in a rage, and 
threatening that he would call him to an account. But king 
Agrippa, for the same reason, took from him the priesthood, after 
he had held it three months, and appointed Jesus the son of Dam- 
masus liis successor. These accounts are given respecting James, 
who is said to have written the first of the epistles general, (ca- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 79 

tholic ;) but it is to be observed that it is considered spurious. Not 
many indeed of the ancients have mentioned it, and not even that 
called the epistle of Jude, ^Yhich is also one of the seven called 
catholic epistles. Nevertheless we know, that these, with the rest, 
are publicly used in most of the churches. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Amiiantis was appointed the first bishop of Alexandria after Marh 

Nero was now in the eighth year of liis reign, when Annianus 
succeeded the apostle and evangelist Mark in the administration 
of the church at Alexandria. He was a man distinguished for 
his piety, and admirable in every respect. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



The 'persecution under Nero, in which Paid and Peter icere ho- 
noured with martyrdom in the cause of religion at Rome. 

But Nero now having the government firmly established under 
him, and henceforth plunging into nefarious projects, began to 
take up arms against that very religion which acknowledges 
the one Supreme God. To describe, indeed, the greatness of 
this man's \^dckedness, is not compatible with our present ob- 
ject; and as there are many that have given his history in the 
most accurate narratives, every one may, at his pleasure, in these 
contemplate the grossness of his extraordinary madness. Under 
the influence of this, he did not proceed to destroy so many thou- 
sands with any calculation, but with such indiscriminate murder 
as not even to refrain from his nearest and dearest friends. His 
own mother and wife, with many others that were his near rela- 
tives, he kiUed Hke strangers and enemies, ^\ith various kinds of 
deaths. And, indeed, in addition to all his other crimes, this too 
was yet wanting to complete the catalogue, that he was the first 



80 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of the emperors that -displayed himself an enemy of piety towards 
the Deity. This fact is recorded by the Roman Tertulhan, in lan- 
guage like the following : " Examine your records. There you 
will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this doctrine, 
particularly then when after subduing all the east, he exercised 
his cruelty against all at Rome. Such is the man of whom we 
boast, as the leader in our punishment. For he that knows who 
he was, may know also that there could scarcely be any thing but 
what was great and good, condemned by Nero." Thus Nero pub- 
licly announcing himself as the chief enemy of God, was led on in 
his fury to slaughter the apostles. Paul is therefore said to have 
been beheaded at Rome, and Peter to have been crucified under 
him. And this account is confirmed by the fact, that the names 
of Peter and Paul still remain in the cemeteries of that city even 
to this day. But likewise, a certain ecclesiastical writer, Caius 
by name, who was born about the time of Zephyrinus bishop of 
Rome, disputing with Proclus the leader of the Phrygian sect, 
gives the following statement respecting the places where the 
earthly tabernacles of the aforesaid apostles are laid. " But I can 
show," says he, " the trophies of the apostles. For if you will go 
to the Vatican, or to the Ostian road, you will find the trophies 
of those who have laid the foundation of this church. And that 
both suffered martyrdom about the same time, Dionysius bishop of 
Corinth bears the following testimony, in his discourse addressed 
to the Romans. ' Thus, likewise you, by means of this admoni- 
tion, have mingled the flourishing seed that had been planted by 
Peter and Paul at Rome and Corinth. For both of these having 
planted us at Corinth, likewise instructed us ; and having in like 
manner taught in Italy, they suffered martyrdom about the same 
time.' "* This testimony I have superadded, in order that the 
truth of the history might be still more confirmed. 

* In this passage from Dionysius, Valesius has followed the text of Syncellus, 
contrary to that commonly received. We give the passage according to the latter. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 81 



CHAPTER XXVL 

The Jews were afflicted with innumerable evih, and finally com- 
menced a war with the Romans. 

JosEPHus, in his account of the great distresses that seized the 
Jewish nation, relates also, in his writings, that heside many- 
others, vast numbers also of those that were of the first rank 
among the Jews, were scourged with rods, and nailed upon the 
cross at Jerusalem, by Florus. For he happened to be procurator 
of Judea at the commencement of the war, in the twelfth year 
of Nero's reign. " Then," says he, " throughout all Syria a tre- 
mendous commotion seized upon the inhabitants, in consequence 
of the revolt of the Jew^s. Every where did the inhabitants of 
the cities destroy the Jews without mercy. So that you could 
see the cities filled with unburied corpses, and the dead bodies of 
the aged mixed wdth those of children, and women not even 
having the necessary covering of their bodies. The whole pro- 
vince, indeed, was filled with indescribable distresses. But great- 
er still than the crimes already endured, was the anticipation 
of those that threatened." Such is the statement of Josephus, 
and such was the condition of the Jews at this time. 



BOOK III. 



CHAPTER I. 

The parts of the world where Christ was preached hy the Apostles, 

Such, then, was the state of the Jews at this time. But the 
holy apostles and disciples of our Saviour, being scattered over 
the whole world, Thomas, according to tradition, received Par- 
thia as his allotted region ; Andrew received Scy thia, and John, 
Asia ; where, after continuing for some time, he died at Ephesus. 
Peter appears to have preached through Pontus, Galatia, Bithy- 
nia, Cappadocia and Asia, to the Jews that were scattered abroad; 
who also, j&nally coming to Rome, was crucified with his head 
downward, having requested of himself to suffer in this way. 
Why should we speak of Paul, spreading the gospel of Christ 
from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and finally suffering martyrdom at 
Rome, under Nero? This account is given by Origen, in the 
third book of his exposition of Genesis. 



CHAPTER II. 

The first that presided over the church at Rome. 

After the martyrdom of Paul and Peter, Linus was the first 
that received the episcopate at Rome. Paul makes mention of 
him in his epistle from Rome to Timothy, in the address at the 
close of the epistle, saying, " Eubulus and Prudens, and Linus, 

and Claudia, salute thee." 

82 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 83 

CHAPTER III. 

Of the Epistles of the Apostles. 

As to the writings of Peter, one of his epistles called the first, 
is acknowledged as genuine. For this was anciently used by the 
ancient fathers in their writings, as an undoubted work of the 
apostle. But that which is called the second, we have not, indeed, 
understood to be imbodied with the sacred books, evhtadviKOv^ 
yet as it appeared useful to many, it was studiously read with 
the other Scriptures. As to that work, however, which is 
ascribed to him, called " The Acts," and the " Gospel according 
to Peter," and that called " The Preaching and the Revelations 
of Peter," we know nothing of their being handed down as Ca- 
tholic* writings. Since neither among the ancient nor the eccle- 
siastical writers of our own day, has there been one that has ap- 
pealed to testimony taken from them. But as I proceed in my 
history, I shall carefully show with the successions of the apostles, 
what ecclesiastical writers in their times respectively made use 
of any of the disputed writings, and what opinions they have 
expressed, both respecting the incorporated (svoLaOyjKOi) and 
acknowledged writings, and also what respecting those that were 
not of this description. These, however, are those that are called 
Peter's epistles, of which I have understood only one epistle to 
be genuine, and admitted by the ancient fathers. The epistles 
of Paul are foiu-teen, all well known and beyond doubt. It 
should not, however, be concealed, that some have set aside the 
Epistle to the Hebrews, saying, that it was disputed, as not being 
one of St. Paul's epistles ; but we shall in the proper place, also 
subjoin what has been said by those before our time respecting 
this epistle. As to what are called his acts, I have not even un- 
derstood that they were among the works of undisputed authority. 
But as the same apostle in the addresses at the close of the Epis- 

* Catholic.'] The word here plainly means universally received ; i. e. genuine, as 
it is happily rendered by Shorting. 



84 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

tie to the Romans, has among others made mention also of 
Hermes, of whom they say we have the book called Pastor, it 
should be observed, that this too is disputed by some, on account 
of whom it is not placed among those of acknowledged authority 
Qo^oTioyoviiEVOi.^ By others, however, it is judged most neces- 
sary, especially to those who need an elementary introduction. 
Hence we know that it has been already in pubhc use in our 
churches, and I have also understood by tradition, that some of 
the most ancient writers have made use of it. Let this suffice 
for the present, to show what books were disputed, what admit- 
ted by all in the sacred Scriptures. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The first successors of the Apostles. 

That Paul preached to the Gentiles, and established churches 
from Jerusalem and around as far as Illyricum, is evident both 
from his own expressions, and from the testimony of Luke in the 
book of Acts. And in what provinces Peter also proclaimed the 
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of the New Covenant, appears 
from his own writings, and may be seen from that epistle we 
have mentioned as admitted in the canon, and which he address- 
ed to the Hebrews in the dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, 
Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. But how many and which of 
these, actuated by a genuine zeal, were judged suitable to feed 
the churches established by these apostles, it is not easy to say, 
any farther than may be gathered from the writings of Paul. 
For he, indeed, had innumerable fellow-labourers, or as he him- 
self calls them, fellow-soldiers in the church. Of these, the 
greater part are honoured with an indelible remembrance by him 
in his epistles, where he gives a lasting testimony concerning 
them. Luke also, in his Acts, speaking of his friends, mentions 
them by name. Timothy, indeed, is recorded as having first re- 
ceived the episcopate at Ephesus, (ev Epheso TtapoiKiag) as 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 85 

Titus also, was appointed over the churches in Crete. But 
Luke, who was born at Antioch, and by profession a physician, 
being for the most part connected with Paul, and familiarly ac- 
quainted with the rest of the apostles, has left us in two inspired 
books, the institutes of that spiritual heaHng art which he obtain- 
ed from them. One of these is his gospel, in which he testifies 
that he has recorded, " as those who were from the beginning 
eye-witnesses, and ministers of the word," dehvered to him, 
whom also, he says, he has in all things followed. The other is 
his Acts of the Apostles, which he composed, not from what he 
had heard from others, but from what he had seen himself. It is 
also said, that Paul usually referred to his gospel, whenever, 
in his epistles he spoke of some particular gospel of his own, 
saying, " according to my gospel." But of the rest that accom- 
panied Paul, Crescens is mentioned by him as sent to Gaul. Li- 
nus, whom he has mentioned in his Second Epistle to Timothy as 
his companion at Rome, has been before shown to have been the 
first after Peter, that obtained the episcopate at Rome. Clement 
also, who was appointed the third bishop of this church, is proved 
by him to have been a fellow-labourer and feUow-soldier with 
him. Beside, the Areopagite, called Dionysius, whom Luke has 
recorded in his Acts, after Paul's address to the Athenians, in the 
Areopagus, as the first that believed, is mentioned by Dionysius, 
another of the ancients, and pastor of the church at Corinth, as 
the first bishop of the chiu-ch at Athens. But the manner and 
times of the apostolic succession shall be mentioned by us as we 
proceed in our course. Now let us pursue the order of our his- 
tory. 



CHAPTER V. 

The last siege of the Jews after Christ. 

After Nero had held the government about thirteen years, 
Galba and Otho reigned about a year and six months. Vespasian, 
who had become illustrious in the campaign against the Jews, 



86 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

was then proclaimed sovereign in Judea, receiving the title of em 
peror from the armies there. Directing his course, therefore, im- 
mediately to Rome, he commits the care of the war against the 
Jews, into the hands of his son Titus ; for after the ascension of 
our Saviour, the Jews, in addition to their wickedness against 
him, were now incessantly plotting mischief against his apostles. 
First, they slew Stephen by stoning him, next James the son of 
Zebedee, and the brother of John, by beheading, and finally 
James, who first obtained the episcopal seat at Jerusalem, after 
the ascension of our Saviour, and was slain in the manner before 
related. But the rest of the apostles who were harassed in in- 
numerable ways, with a view to destroy them, and driven from 
the land of Judea, had gone forth to preach the gospel to all na 
tions, relying upon the aid of Christ, when he said, " Go ye, teach 
all nations in my name." The whole body, however, of the 
church at Jerusalem, having been commanded by a divine reve- 
lation, given to men of approved piety there before the war, re- 
moved from the city, and dwelt at a certain town beyond the 
Jordan, called Pella. Here, those that believed in Christ, having 
removed from Jerusalem, as if holy men had entirely abandoned 
the royal city itself, and the whole land of Judea ; the divine jus- 
tice, for their crimes against Christ and his apostles, finally 
overtook them, totally destroying the whole generation of these 
evildoers from the earth. But the number of calamities which 
then overwhelmed the whole nation ; the extreme misery to which 
particularly the inhabitants of Judea were reduced, the vast 
numbers of men, with women and children that fell by the sword 
and famine, and innumerable other forms of death ; the numerous 
and great cities of Judea that were besieged, as also the great 
and incredible distresses that those experienced who took refuge 
at Jerusalem, as to a place of perfect security ; these facts, as 
well as the whole tenor of the war, and each particular of its 
progress, when finally, the abomination of desolation, according 
to the prophetic declaration, stood in the very temple of God, so 
celebrated of old, but which now was approaching its total down- 
fal and final destruction by fire; all this, I say, any one that wishes 
may see accurately stated in the history written by Josephus, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 87 

It may, however, be necessary to state, in the very words of this 
writer, how about three hundred thousand that flocked from all 
parts of Judea at the time of the passover, were shut up in Jeru- 
salem as in a prison. For it was indeed just, that in those very 
days in which they had inflicted sufferings upon the Saviour and 
benefactor of all men, the Christ of God, destruction should over- 
take them, thus shut up as in a prison, as an exhibition of the di- 
vine justice. Passing by, then, the particular calamities which 
befel them, such as they suffered from the sword, and other means 
employed against them, I may deem it sufficient only to subjoin 
the calamities they endured from the famine. So that they who 
peruse the present history, may know in some measure, that the 
divine vengeance did not long delay to visit them for their iniquity 
against the Christ of God. 



CHAPTER VL 

The famine which oppressed the Jews. 

Let us, then, with the fifth book of Josephus's history again in our 
hands, go through the tragedy of events which then occurred. " It 
was equally dangerous," says he, " for the more wealthy to remain. 
For under the pretext of desertion, a man was slain for his wealth. 
But the madness of the rioters increased with the famine, and both 
kinds of misery were inflamed from day to day. Provisions were 
plainly nowhere to be had. Hence they burst into houses to search 
for food, and if they found any, they would scourge the owners as 
if they intended to deny they had it ; but if they found none, they 
tortured them as if they had carefully concealed it. The bodies 
of the poor wretches, however, were evidence enough whether 
they had or had not. Some of them, therefore, that were yet 
sound in health, they supposed to have an abundance of food, but 
those that were wan and pallid they passed by ; for it seemed ab- 
surd to kill men that were soon likely to die for want. Many se- 
cretly exchanged their property for a single measure of wheat, if 
they happened to be the more wealthy ; of barley, if they were 



88 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of the poorer sort. Then locking themselves in the most retired 
parts of their houses, some, from excessive hunger, eat the grain 
unprepared ; others however, haked it according as necessity or 
fear directed. As to a table, there was none set any where ; but 
taking the food from the fire, they tore it asunder yet crude and 
raw. Wretched indeed was the fare, and a lamentable sight it 
was, where the most powerful grasped after all, and the weaker 
were constrained to mourn. For famine surpasses all other evils, 
but it destroys nothing so effectually as shame ; for that which 
would otherwise demand some regard, is contemned in this. Thus 
wives tore away the food from the very mouths of their husbands, 
children from their parents, and what was most wretched of all, 
mothers from their infants ; so that whilst their dearest children 
lay wasting in their arms, there was not shame enough to prevent 
them taking away the very drops that supported life. And even 
in doing this, they did not remain undiscovered ; for whenever 
they saw a door locked, this was a sign that those within were 
taking food, and then immediately bursting open the doors they 
rushed in, and choked them, almost forcing the morsels out of 
their very throats. Old men were beaten that held back their 
food, and women were torn by the hair, if they concealed what 
they had in their hands. Nor was there any pity for gray hairs 
or for infants ; but taking up the infants cHnging to the morsels, 
they dashed them to the ground. But they were much more cruel 
to those who anticipated their entrance, and were devouring what 
they wished to seize, just as if they had been wronged by them. 
They also devised terrible modes of torture, to discover where 
there was any food. For by cruel devices to prevent every relief 
of nature, they caused the unhappy individual to suffer such tor- 
ment,* that the very recital makes one shudder at what he would 
endure, before he confessed that he had one loaf of bread, or that 
he had a single handful of wheat concealed. The tormentors 
themselves, however, suffered no want ; for it might have been 
some palliation, if necessity had compelled them thus. But they 

* The passages that we have here thrown into one, are thus given by Valesaus : 
" Nam miseris hominibus ipsos quidem genitalium meatus ervis obturabant, podi- 
cem prseacutis sudibus transfigebant." 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 89 

V 

did it with the view to exercise their ferocity and ta provide for 
themselves for the following days. When any crept forth at night 
to the outposts of the Romans, for the purpose of collecting wild 
herbs and grass, these tormentors would go out to meet them, and 
when they seemed just to have escaped the hands of the enemy, 
the oppressors robbed them of whatever they brought. And very 
often, though they entreated them, and conjured them by the 
most awful name of God, to give them some part of that for which 
they had risked their lives, they notwithstanding gave them no- 
thing. It was a happy circumstance yet, if in addition to robbery, 
they were not also slain." This same author, after a few parti- 
culars, also says : " But with the hope of egress, was cut off all 
hope of safety to the Jews ; and the famine now penetrating deeply, 
was consuming the people by houses and families. The houses 
were filled with women and children that had thus perished ; the 
byways with the dead bodies of old men. But the boys and young 
men, swelling up, tottered and reeled like shadows through the 
markets, and then falling down, lay wheresoever the malady had 
overtaken them. The sick were not even able to bury their dead, 
and those yet in health and strength were loth to do it, both on 
account of the number of the dead, and the uncertainty of their 
own fate. Many, indeed, fell down and died upon those they were 
burying ; many went to the sepulchres, even before they were 
overtaken by the struggles of death. There was, however, nei- 
ther weeping nor lamentation, but the famine prevailed over all 
affection. With tearless eyes did they who were yet struggling 
with death, look on those that had gone to rest before them. A 
deep silence and deadly gloom also pervaded the city. But more 
oppressive than all these, were the robbers that broke into the 
houses, now mere sepulchres, and spoiling the dead, and tearing 
off the garments of their bodies, they went off with a laugh. They 
would also try the points of their swords in the dead bodies, and 
some of those that were lying yet alive, they thrust through, in 
order to try the edge of their weapons. But those that prayed 
them the relief of their arm and sword, they contemptuously left 
to be destroyed by the famine; whilst those expiring died with 
their eyes fixed upon the temple, and left the factious to survive 

M 



90 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

them. These, at first, not bearing the effluvia from the dead bo- 
dies, ordered them to be buried out of the pubUc treasury ; after- 
wards, when they were not able to continue this, they threw the 
bodies from the walls into the ditches below. As Titus went 
around these, and saw them filled with the dead, and the deep 
gore flowing around the putrid bodies, he groaned heavily, and 
raising his hands, called God to witness that it was none of his 
work." After some additional remarks, Josephus proceeds: "1 
cannot hesitate to declare what my feelings demand. I think 
that had the Romans lingered to proceed against these guilty 
wretches, the city would either have been swallowed up by the 
opening earth, or overwhelmed with a flood, or like Sodom, been 
struck with the hghtning. For it bore a much more impious race 
than those who once endured such visitations. Thus, by the mad- 
ness of these wretches, the whole people perished." In the sixth 
book, he also writes thus : " Of those that perished by the famine 
in the city, there fell an infinite number. The miseries that befel 
them were indescribable; for at every house, wherever there was 
a shadow of food, there was war. The nearest relatives contended 
with one another, to seize the wretched supports of life. There 
was no belief that hunger was the cause, even when they saw 
the dying ; but the robbers would search them whilst yet breath- 
ing, lest any one should pretend that he was dying, whilst he con- 
cealed food in his bosom. But the robbers themselves, with their 
mouths wide open for want of food, roved and straggled hither 
and thither, like mad dogs, beating the doors as if they were 
drunk ; and for want of counsel, rushing twice or thrice an hour 
into the same houses. Indeed, necessity forced them to apply their 
teeth to every thing, and gathering what was no food, even for 
the filthiest of irrational animals, they devoured it, and did not 
abstain at last even from belts and shoes. They took oflf the hides 
from their shields and devoured them, and some used even the 
remnants of old straw as food ; others gathered the stubble, and 
sold a very small weight of it for four Attic drachms.* And why 

Attic drachms.'] The drachma was a coin of about fifteen cents. Some make it 
more. Shorting, in his translation, has computed the four drachms to be half a 
pound sterling, and refers to his note on B. I. ch. viii. He there states very cor- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 91 

should we speak of the excessive severity of the famine displayed 
upon inanimate objects 1 I am going to relate a piece of wick- 
edness, such as is not recorded either by Greeks or barbarians. 
It is horrid to relate, and incredible to hear. And indeed, lest I 
should appear to deal in marvellous stories, I would cheerfuDy 
pass by this occurrence, if I had not innumerable witnesses still 
living. I should also deserve but cold thanks from my country, if 
I should pass by in carelessness what she in reality did suffer. 
A woman that dwelt beyond the Jordan, named Maria, the 
daughter of Eleazar, of the village Bathezor, signifying the home 
of hyssop, distinguished for her family and wealth, having taken 
refuge at Jerusalem among the rest of the multitude, was shut 
up in the city with them. The tyrants had already robbed her 
of all her other possessions, as much as she had collected, and 
brought with her from beyond the river into the city. But as to 
the relics of her property, and whatever food she provided, the 
ruffians daily rushing in, seized and bore it away. A dreadful 
indignation overpowered the woman, and frequently reviling and 
cursing the robbers, she endeavoured by these means to irritate 
them against herself. But as no one either through resentment 
or pity would slay her, and she was weary of providing food for 
others, and there was now no probability of finding it any where ; 
the famine now penetrated the very bowels and marrow, and re- 
sentment raged more violently than the famine. Urged by frenzy 
and necessity as her counsellors, she proceeded against nature 
herself. Seizing her little son, who was yet at her breast, she 
said, " wretched child ! in the midst of war, famine, and faction, 
for what do I preserve thee 1 Our condition among the Romans, 
though we might live, is slavery. But even slavery is anticipated 
by famine, and the assassins are more cruel than either — come, 

rectly, that four Attic drachms equal one ordinary shekel, and the shekel to be 2*. 
6c?. But by some unnaccountable oversight, makes the four drachms equal to ten 
shillings! He appears to have substituted the value of the shekel for the drachm, 
as the reader will readily see. But what is still more surprising, this error has 
been transcribed by Reading in his accurate edition of Valesius. See Reading's 
edition in loc. 



92 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

be thou food to me, fury* to the assassins, and a tale for men, the 
only one yet wanting to complete the miseries of the Jews." As 
she said this, she slew her son ; then roasting him, she eat one 
half herself, and covering over the rest, she kept it. It was not 
long before the murderers came in, and perceiving the fumes of 
the execrable food, they threatened immediately to slay her if 
she did not produce what she had prepared. She answered she 
had reserved a fine portion of it for them, and then uncovered 
the rehcs of her son. Horror and amazement immediately seized 
them. They stood mute with the sight. " This is my own son," 
said she, " and the deed is mine. Eat, for I too have eaten, be 
not more delicate than a woman, nor more tender than a 
mother ; but if you are so pious, and reject my offering, I have 
already eaten half, and let the rest remain for me." After this, 
they indeed, went trembling away, cowardly at least in this one 
instance, and yet scarcely yielding to the mother even this kind 
of food. Forthwith the whole city was filled with the dreadful 
crime, and every one placing the wickedness before his eyes, was 
struck with a horror as if it had been perpetrated by himself. 
Thenceforth the wretched people overcome with hunger, only 
strove to hasten death; and it was a happiness yet for those who 
died before they heard and saw miseries hke these." Such 
then, was the vengeance that followed the guilt and impiety of 
the Jews against the Christ of God. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Predictions of Christ. 

To these accounts it may be proper to add the sure prediction 
of our Saviour, in which he foretold these very events as follows : 
" But wo to them that are with child and those that give suck in 

* Fury, or vengeance.] The Erynnes or Furies, according to the belief of the 
ancients, were among the tormenting fiends of Tartarus. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 93 

those days ; but pray that your flight be not in the winter, nor 
on the Sabbath. But there shall be then great distress, such 
as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, 
neither may be." The historian, adding up the whole num- 
ber of those slain, says, that eleven hundred thousand perish- 
ed by famine and the sword, and that the rest, the factious 
and robbers, mutually informing against each other after the cap- 
ture, were put to death. Of the young men, the tallest, and 
those that were distinguished for beauty, were preserved for the 
triumph. Of the remaining multitude, those above seventeen 
were sent prisoners to labour at the mines in Egypt. But great 
numbers were distributed to the provinces, to be destroyed by the 
sword or wild beasts in the theatres. Those under seventeen 
were carried away to be sold as slaves. Of these alone, there 
were upwards of ninety thousand. All this occurred in this 
manner, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, according 
to the predictions of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who by 
his divine power foresaw all these things as if already present at 
the time, who wept and mourned indeed, at the prospect, as the 
holy evangelists show in their writings. These give us the very 
words that he uttered, when he said to this same Jerusalem, " If 
thou didst know, even thou, in this thy day the things that belong 
to thy peace, but now they are hidden from thy eyes, for the days 
will come upon thee, and thy enemies shall cast a trench around 
thee, and shall encompass thee around, and shall every where shut 
thee in, and they shall level thee and thy children vdth the 
ground." Afterwards he speaks as if of the people — " For there 
shall be great distress upon earth, and wrath upon this people, 
and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and they shall be 
carried away captive to all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trod- 
den down by the nations, until the times of the nations shall be 
fulfilled." And again, " When ye shall see Jerusalem surrounded 
by armies, then know that her desolation has drawn near." 

On comparing the declarations of our Saviour with the other 
parts of the historian's work, where he describes the whole war, 
how can one fail to acknowledge and wonder at the truly divine 
and extraordinary foreknowledge and prediction of our Saviour ? 



94 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Concerning the events, then, that hefel the Jews after our Sa 
viour's passion, and those outcries in which the multitude of the 
Jews refused the condemnation of a rohher and murderer, 
but entreated that the Prince of Life should be destroyed, it is 
superfluous to add to the statement of the historian. Yet it may 
be proper to mention, also, what things occurred that show the 
benignity of that all-gracious Providence that had deferred their 
destruction for forty years after their crimes against Christ. Dur- 
ing which time the greater part of the apostles and disciples, 
James himself, the first bishop there, usually called the brother 
of our Lord, still surviving, and still remaining at Jerusalem, con- 
tinued the strongest bulwark of the place. Divine Providence 
yet bearing them with long-suffering, to see whether by repent- 
ance for what they had done, they might obtain pardon and sal- 
vation ; and beside this long-suffering, it also presented wonderful 
prodigies of what was about to happen to those that did not re- 
pent ; all which having been recorded by the historian already 
cited, it well deserved to be submitted to the view of our readers. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The signs that preceded the war. 



Taking, then, the work of this author, read for yourself the 
account given by him in the sixth book of his history. " The 
wretched people," says he, " at this time were readily persuaded 
to give credit to the impostors and liars against God, but they 
neither believed nor paid regard to the significant and wonder- 
ful events that prognosticated the approaching desolation. On 
the contrary, as if struck with stupidity, and as if they had nei- 
ther eyes nor understanding, they slighted the declarations of 
God. At one time, when a star very like a sword stood above 
the city, as also a comet that continued to be seen a whole year, 
at another, when before the rebellion and the commotions that 
preceded the war, whilst the people were collected at the feast 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 95 

of unleavened bread, on the eighth of the month of April, about 
the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone around the 
altar and the temple, as to seem a bright day. And this con- 
tinued for half an hour. To the ignorant this appeared a good 
omen, but by the scribes it was immediately judged to refer to 
the events that took place at the issue. At the same festival also, 
a cow struck by the priest for sacrifice, brought forth a lamb in 
the midst of the temple. The eastern gate also, of the inner tem- 
ple, which was of brass and immense weight, and which at eve- 
ning was scarcely shut by twenty men, and resting on ironbound 
hinges, and secured with bolts very deeply sunk in the ground, 
was seen in the sixth hour of the night to open of itself But 
not many days after the feast, on the twenty-first of the month 
of Artimisium, (May) a wonderful spectre was seen, which 
surpasses all belief And indeed, that which I am about to 
tell would appear a . prodigy, were it not related by those who 
had seen it, and unless the subsequent miseries had corresponded 
to the signs. For before the setting of the sun there were seen 
chariots and armed troops on high, wheeling through the clouds 
around the whole region, and surrounding the cities. And at 
the festival called Pentecost, the priests entering the temple at 
night according to their custom, to perform the service, said 
they first perceived a motion and noise, and after this a confused 
voice saying, " let us go hence." But what follows is still more 
awful. 

One Jesus the son of Ananias, a common and ignorant rustic, 
four years before the war, when the city was most at peace and 
well regulated, coming to the festival at which it was customary 
for all to make tabernacles at the temple, to the honour of God, 
suddenly began to cry out, " A voice from the east, a voice from 
the west, a voice from the four winds. A voice against Jerusa- 
lem and the temple, a voice against bridegrooms and brides, a 
voice against all people." This man went about crying through 
all the lanes, night and day. But some of the more distinguished 
citizens, being offended at the ominous cry, and enraged at the 
man, seized him, and scourged him with many and severe lashes. 
But without uttering a word for himself or privately to those 



96 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

present, he still persisted in the cries he had before uttered. The 
magistrates, therefore judging, what it really was, a more than 
ordinary divine movement in the man, conducted him to the 
Roman governor. Then, though he was scourged to the bone, 
he neither entreated nor shed a tear. But lowering his voice in 
as mournful a tone as was possible, he answered to every blow, 
" Alas, alas, for Jerusalem." The same historian relates a fact 
still more remarkable. He says, " that an oracular passage was 
found in the sacred writings, declaring that about this time a cer- 
tain one proceeding from that region would obtain the sove- 
reignty of the world. This prediction, he supposed, was fulfilled 
in Vespasian. He, however, did not obtain the sovereignty over 
the whole world, but only over the Romans. More justly, 
therefore, would it be referred to Christ, to whom it was said 
by the Father, " Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen 
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for 
thy possession." Of whom, indeed, at this very time, " the sound 
of the holy apostles went throughout all the earth, and their 
words to the ends of the w^orld." 



CHAPTER IX. 

Of Josephus and the works he has left. 

Since we have referred to this writer, it may be proper also 
to notice Josephus himself, who has contributed so much to the 
history in hand, whence and from what family he sprung. He 
shows this, indeed, in his own works, as follows. " Josephus the 
son of Mattathias, a priest of Jerusalem, who at first himself 
fought against the Romans, and at whose affairs he was after- 
ward of necessity present," was a man most distinguished, not 
only among his own countrymen the Jews, but also among the 
Romans ; so that they honoured him with the erection of a statue 
at Rome, and the books that he composed, with a place in the 
public library. He wrote the whole Antiquities of the Jews, in 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 97 

twenty books, and his history of the Jewish war in seven books, 
which he says were not only written in Greek, but also translated 
by him into his native tongue ; in all which he is worthy of 
credit, as well as in other matters. There are also two other 
works of his that deserve to be read, viz. those on the Antiquity 
of the Jew^s. In these he also makes his reply to Apion, the 
grammarian, who had then written against the Jews ; they con- 
tain also a refutation of others, who attempted to vilify the na- 
tional pecuharities of the Jewish people. In the first of these 
works he gives us the number of the canonical books of the 
Scriptures called the Old Testament, such as are of undoubted 
authority among the Hebrews, setting them forth, as handed 
down by ancient tradition, in the following w^ords. 



CHAPTER X. 

The manner in which Josephus mentions the Holy Scriptures. 

" We have not therefore among us innumerable books that 
disagree and contradict each other, but only two and twenty, 
embracing the record of all history, and which are justly con- 
sidered divine compositions. Of these, five are the books of Mo- 
ses, comprehending both the laws and the tradition respecting the 
origin of man, down to his own death. This time comprehendsf 
a space of nearly three thousand years. But from Moses until 
the death of Artaxerxes, who reigned after Xerxes king of Per- 
sia, the prophets after Moses wrote the events of their day in thir- 
teen books. The remaining four, comprehend hymns to the 
praise of God, and precepts for the regulation of human lifa 
From Artaxerxes until our own times, the events are all re- 
corded, but they are not deemed of authority equal with those 
before them, because, that there was not an exact succession of 
'the prophets. But it is evident from the thing itself, how we re- 
gard these books of ours. For in the lapse of so many ages, no 
one has dared either to add to them, or to take from them, or to 

N 



98 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

change them, but it has been implanted in all Jews, from the very 
origin of the nation, to consider them as the doctrines of God, 
and to abide by them, and cheerfully to die for them if neces- 
sary." These declarations of this historian, I thought might be 
properly here subjoined. There is also another work, of no mean 
execution, by the same writer, " On the Supremacy of Reason," 
which, indeed, is entitled by some Maccabaicum, because it con- 
tains the conflicts of those Hebrews that contended manfully for 
the true religion, as is related in the books called Maccabees. 
And at the end of the twentieth book of his Antiquities, the same 
author intimates, that he had purposed to write four books on God, 
and his existence, according to the peculiar opinions of the Jew- 
ish nation ; also on the laws, wherefore it is permitted by them 
to do some things whilst others are forbidden. Other subjects, 
he says, are also discussed by him in his works. In addition to 
these, it seems proper to subjoin also the expressions that he 
uses at the close of his Antiquities, in confirmation of the testi- 
mony that we have taken from him. For when he accuses Jus- 
tus of Tiberias, who, Hke himself, attempted the history of his 
own times, and convicts him of not writing according to truth, 
after upbraiding him with many other misdemeanours, he also 
adds the following language : " I am not, however, afraid re- 
specting my writings, as you are ; but have presented them to the 
emperors themselves, as the facts occurred almost under their 
eyes. For I was conscious of adhering closely to the truth in 
my narration, and hence was not disappointed in expecting to 
receive their testimony. To many others, also, did I hand my 
history, some of whom were present at the war, as king Agrip- 
pa and some of his relatives. For the emperor Titus desired so 
much that the knowledge of these events should be communi- 
cated to the world, that with his own hand he wrote they should 
be published. And king Agrippa wrote sixty-two letters bearing 
testimony to their truth, of which Josephus subjoined two. But 
this may suffice respecting him. Let us now proceed to what 
follows in order. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 99 

CHAPTER XL 

Simeon ruled the church of Jerusalem after James. 

After the martyrdom of James, and the capture of Jerusalem, 
which immediately followed, the report is, that those of the 
apostles and the disciples of our Lord, that were yet surviving, 
came together from all parts with those that were related to 
our Lord according to the flesh. For the greater part of them 
were yet living. These -consulted together, to determine whom 
it was proper to pronounce worthy of being the successor of 
James. They all unanimously declared Simeon the son of Cleo- 
phas, of whom mention is made in the sacred volume, as worthy 
of the episcopal seat there. They say he was the cousin ger- 
man* of our Saviour, for Hegesippus asserts that Cleophas was 
the brother of Joseph. 



CHAPTER XIL 

Vespasian commands the descendants of David to be sought. 

It was also said that Vespasian, after the capture of Jerusalem, 
commanded all of the family of David to be sought, that no one 
might be left among the Jews who was of the royal stock, and, 
that in consequence another very violent persecution was raised 
against the Jews. 

* The word uvi^i^iov is here correctly rendered cousin german, by the mother^s 
side. Valesius has incorrectly rendered patruelis, cousin german, by the father's 
side. Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary the mother of our Lord, were sisters. 
John xix. 25. Hence, Shorting has correctly observed, that Hegesippus calls 
Joseph and Cleophas brothers, by reason of this matrimonial connexion. See his 
note. 



100 ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 

CHAPTER XIIL 

Anencletus, the second bishop of Rome. 

After Vespasian had reigned about ten years, he was succeed- 
ed by his son Titus ; in the second year of whose reign, Linus, 
bishop of the church at Rome, who had held the office about 
twelve years, transferred it to Anencletus. But Titus was suc- 
ceeded by Domitian, his brother, after he had reigned two years 
and as many months. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Avilius, the second bishop of Alexandria. 

In the fourth year of Domitian, Annianus, who was the first 
bishop of Alexandria, died, after having filled the office twenty- 
two years. He was succeeded by Avilius, who was the second 
bishop of that city. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Clement, the third bishop of Rome. 

In the twelfth year of the same reign, after Anencletus had 
been bishop of Rome twelve years, he was succeeded by Cle- 
ment, who, the apostle, in his Epistle to the Philippians, shows, 
had been his fellow-labourer, in these words : " With Clement 
and the rest of my fellow-labourers, whose names are in the book 
of life." 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 101 

CHAPTER XVL 

The Epistle of Clement 

Of this Clement there is one epistle extant, acknowledged as 
genuine, of considerable length and of great merit, which he 
wrote in the name of the church at Rome, to that of Corinth, at 
the time when there was a dissension in the latter. This we 
know to have been publicly read for common benefit, in most of 
the churches, both in former times and in our own ; and that at 
the time mentioned a sedition did take place at Corinth, is abund- 
antly attested by Hegesippus. 



CHAPTER XVIL 

The persecution of the Christians under Domltian, 

DoMiTiAPT, indeed, having exercised his cruelty against many, 
and unjustly slain no small number of noble and illustrious men 
at Rome, and having, without cause, punished vast numbers of 
honourable men with exile and the confiscation of their property, 
at length established himself as the successor of Nero, in his 
hatred and hostility to God. He was the second that raised a 
persecution against us, although his father Vespasian had attempt- 
ed nothing to our prejudice. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

John the Apostle, and the Revelation, 

In this persecution, it is handed down by tradition, that the 
apostle and evangelist John, who was yet living, in consequence 
of his testimony to the divine word, was condemned to dwell on 
the island of Patmos. Irenaeus, indeed, in his fifth book against 
the heresies, where he speaks of the calculation formed on the 



102 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

epithet of Antichrist, in the abovementioned revelation of John, 
speaks in the following manner respecting him. " If, however, it 
were necessary to proclaim his name, (i. e. Antichrist,) openly at 
the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw 
the revelation, for it is not long since it was seen, but almost in 
our own generation, at the close of Domitian's reign." To such 
a degree, indeed, did the doctrine which we profess, flourish, that 
even historians that are very far from befriending our religion, 
have not hesitated to record this persecution and its martyrdoms 
in their histories. These also, have accurately noted the time, 
for it happened, according to them, in the fifteenth year of Domi- 
tian. At the same time, for professing Christ, Flavia Domitilla, 
the niece of Flavins Clemens, one of the consuls of Rome at that 
time, was transported with many others, by way of punishment, 
to the island of Pontia. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Domitian commands the posterity of David to be slain. 

But when the same Domitian had issued his orders, that the 
descendants of David should be slain according to an ancient tra- 
dition, some of the heretics accused the descendants of Judas, as 
the brother of our Saviour, according to the flesh, because they were 
of the family of David, and as such, also, were related to Christ. 
This is declared by Hegesippus as ToUows. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Of the relatives of our Lord. 



There were yet living of the family of our Lord, the grand- 
children of Judas, called the brother of our Lord, according to 
the flesh. These were reported as being of the family of David, 
and were brought to Domitian by the Evocatus. For this emperor 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 103 

was as much alarmed at the appearance of Christ as Herod. He 
put the question, whether they were of David's race, and they 
confessed that they were. He then asked them what property 
they had, or how much money they owned. And both of them 
answered, that they had between them only nine thousand dena- 
rii,* and this they had not in silver, but in the value of a piece of 
land, containing only thirty-nine acres ; from which they raised 
their taxes and supported themselves by their own labour. Then 
they also began to show their hands, exhibiting the hardness 
of their bodies, and the callosity formed by incessant labour on 
their hands, as evidence of their own labour. When asked 
also, respecting Christ and his kingdom, what was its nature, 
and when and where it was to appear, they repHed, " that it was 
not a temporal nor an earthly kingdom, but celestial and angelic ; 
that it would appear at the end of the world, when coming in 
glory he would judge the quick and dead, and give to every one 
according to his works." Upon which, Domitian despising them, 
made no reply; but treating them with contempt, as simpletons, 
commanded them to be dismissed, and by a decree ordered the 
persecution to cease. Thus delivered, they ruled the churches, 
both as v^tnesses and relatives of the Lord. When peace w^as 
established, they continued living even to the times of Trajan." 
Such is the statement of Hegesippus. Tertullian also has men- 
tioned Domitian thus : " Domitian had also once attempted the 
same against him, who was, in fact, a limb of Nero for cruelty ; 
but I think, because he yet had some remains of reason, he very 
soon suppressed the persecution, even recalling those whom he 
had exiled. But after Domitian had reigned fifteen years, and 
Nerva succeeded to the government, the Roman senate decreed, 
that the honours of Domitian should be revoked, and that those 
who had been unjustly expelled, should return to their homes, and 
have their goods restored. This is the statement of the historians 
of the day. It was then also, that the apostle John returned from 
his banishment in Patmos, and took up his abode at Ephesus, ac 
cording to an ancient tradition of the church. 

* The Roman denarius was about the value of a Greek drachma, each fifteeu 
cents nearly. 



104 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Cerdon, the third bishop of Alexandria. 

After Nerva had reigned a little more than a year, he was suc- 
ceeded by Trajan. It was in the first year of his reign, that Cer- 
don succeeded Avilius in the church of Alexandria, after the lat- 
ter had governed it thirteen years. He was the third that held 
the episcopate there since Annianus. During this time, Clement 
was yet bishop of the Romans, who was also the third that held 
the episcopate there after Paul and Peter ; Linus being the first 
and Anencletus next in order. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Ignatius, the second bishop of Antioch. 

On the death of Evodius, who was the first bishop of Antioch, 
Ignatius was appointed the second. Simeon also was the second 
after the brother of our Lord, that had charge of the church at 
Jerusalem about this time. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

Narrative respecting the Apostle John, 

About this time also, the beloved disciple of Jesus, John the 
apostle and evangelist, still surviving, governed the churches in 
Asia, after his return from exile on the island, and the death of 
Domitian. But that he was still Uving until this time, it may suf- 
fice to prove, by the testimony of two witnesses. These, as main- 
taining sound doctrine in the church, may surely be regarded as 
worthy of all credit: and such were Irenaeus and Clement of Alex- 
andria. Of these, the former, in the second book against heresies, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 105 

writes in the following manner: " And all the presbyters of Asia, 
that had conferred with John the disciple of our Lord, testify that 
John had delivered it to them ; for he continued with them until 
the times of Trajan." And in the third book of the same work, 
he shows the same thing in the following words : " But the church 
in Ephesus also, which had been founded by Paul, and where 
John continued to abide until the times of Trajan, is a faithful 
witness of the apostolic tradition." Clement also, indicating the 
time, subjoins a narrative most acceptable to those who delight to 
hear what is excellent and profitable, in that discourse to M'^hich 
he gave the title, " What Rich Man is saved ?" Taking therefore 
the book, read it where it contains a narrative like the following : 
" Listen to a story that is no fiction, but a real history, handed 
down and carefully preserved, respecting the apostle John. For 
after the tyrant was dead, coming from the isle of Patmos to 
Ephesus, he went also, when called, to the neighbouring regions 
of the Gentiles; in some to appoint bishops, in some to insti- 
tute entire new churches, in others to appoint to the ministry 
some one of those that were pointed out by the Holy Ghost. 
When he came, therefore,, to one of those cities, at no great 
distance, of which some also give the name, and had in other 
respects consoled his brethren, he at last turned towards the 
bishop ordained, (appointed,) and seeing a youth of fine stature, 
graceful countenance, and ardent mind, he said, * Him I commend 
to you with all earnestness, in the presence of the church and of 
Christ.' The bishop having taken him and promised all, he re- 
peated and testified the same thing, and then returned to Ephe- 
sus. The presbyter taking the youth home that was committed 
to him, educated, restrained, and cherished him, and at length 
baptized him. After this, he relaxed exercising his former care 
and vigilance, as if he had now committed him to a perfect safe- 
guard in the seal of the Lord. But certain idle, dissolute fellows, 
familiar with every kind of wickedness, unhappily attach them- 
selves to him, thus prematurely freed from restraint. At first they 
lead him on by expensive entertainments. Then going out at night 
to plunder, they take him with them. Next, they encourage him 
to something greater, and gradually becoming accustomed to their 

O 



106 ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 

ways in his enterprising spirit, like an unbridled and powerful 
steed that has struck out of the right way, biting the curb, he 
rushed with so much the greater impetuosity towards the preci- 
pice. At length renouncing the salvation of God, he contemplated 
no trifling offence, but having committed some great crime, since 
he was now once ruined, he expected to suffer equally with the 
rest. Taking, therefore, these same associates, and forming them 
into a band of robbers, he became their captain, surpassing them 
all in violence, blood, and cruelty. Time elapsed, and on a cer- 
tain occasion they send for John. The apostle, after appointing 
those other matters for which he came, said, ' Come, bishop, return 
me my deposite, which I and Christ committed to thee, in the pre- 
sence of the church over which thou dost preside.' The bishop 
at first, indeed, was confounded, thinking that he was insidiously 
charged for money which he had not received ; and yet he could 
neither give credit respecting that which he had not, nor yet dis- 
believe John. But when he said, ' I demand the young man, and 
the soul of a brother,' the old man, groaning heavily and also 
weeping, said, * He is dead.' * How, and what death V ' He is 
dead to God,' said he. * He has turned out wicked and abandoned, 
and at last a robber ; and now, instead of the church, he has be- 
set the mountain with a band like himself The apostle, on 
hearing this, tore his garment, and beating his head with great 
lamentation, said, ' I left a fine keeper of a brother's soul ! But 
let a horse now be got ready, and some one to guide me on my 
way.' He rode as he was, away from the church, and coming to 
the country, was taken prisoner by the outguard of the banditti. 
He neither attempted, however, to flee, nor refused to be taken ; 
but cried out, * For this very purpose am I come ; conduct me to 
your captain.' He, in the meantime stood waiting, armed as he was. 
But as he recognised John advancing towards him, overcome with 
shame he turned about to flee. The apostle, however, pursued him 
with all his might, forgetful of his age, and crying out, * Why dost 
thou fly, my son, from me, thy father ; thy defenceless, aged father? 
Have compassion on me, my son ; fear not. Thou still hast hope of 
life. I will intercede with Christ for thee. Should it be necessary, 
I will cheerfully suffer death for thee, as Christ for us. I will give 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 107 

my life for thine. Stay ; believe Christ hath sent me.' Hearing this, 
he at first stopped with downcast looks. Then threw away his 
arms ; then trembling, lamented bitterly, and embracing the old 
man as he came up, attempted to plead for himself with his la- 
mentations, as much as he was able ; as if baptized a second time 
with his own tears, and only concealing his right hand. But the 
apostle pledging himself, and solemnly assuring him, that he had 
found pardon for him in his prayers at the hands of Christ, pray- 
ing, on his bended knees, and kissing his right hand as cleansed 
from all iniquity, conducted him back again to the church. Then 
supplicating with frequent prayers, contending with constant 
fastings, and softening down his mind with various consolatory 
declarations, he did not leave him as it is said, until be had re- 
stored him to the church. Affording a powerful example of true 
repentance, and a great evidence of a regeneration, a trophy of 
a visible resurrection." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

The order of the Gospels. 



These extracts from Clement may here suffice, both for the 
sake of the history and the benefit of the readers. Let us now 
also show the undisputed writings of the same apostle. And of 
these his gospel, so well known in the churches throughout the 
world, must first of all be acknowledged as genuine. That it is, 
however, with good reason, placed the fourth in order by the 
ancients, may be made evident in the following manner. Those 
inspired and truly pious men, the apostles of our Saviour, as they 
were most pure in their life, and adorned with every kind of vir- 
tue in their minds, but common in their language, relying upon 
the divine and wonderful energy granted them, they neither 
knew how, nor attempted to propound the doctrines of their mas- 
ter, with the art and refinement of composition. But employing 
only the demonstration of the divine Spirit, working with them, 
and the wonder-working power of Christ, displayed through 



108 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

them, they proclaimed the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven 
throughout the world. They bestowed but httle care upon the 
study of style, and this they did, because they were aided by a 
co-operation greater than that of men. Paul, indeed, who was 
the most able of all in the preparations of style, and who was 
most powerful in sentiments, committed nothing more to writing 
than a few very short epistles. And this too, although he had 
innumerable mysterious matters that he might have communi- 
cated, as he had attained even to the view of the third heavens, 
had been taken up to the very paradise of God, and had been 
honoured to hear the unutterable words there. The other fol- 
lowers of our Lord were also not ignorant of such things, as the 
twelve apostles, and the seventy, together with many others ; yet 
of all the disciples, Matthew and John are the only ones that have 
left us recorded comments, and even they, tradition says, under- 
took it from necessity. Matthew also having first proclaimed the 
gospel in Hebrew, when on the point of going also to other na- 
tions, committed it to writing in his native tongue, and thus sup- 
plied the want of his presence to them, by his writings. But 
after Mark and Luke had already published their gospels, they 
say, that John, who during all this time was proclaiming the gos- 
pel without writing, at length proceeded to write it on the fol- 
lowing occasion. The three gospels previously written, having 
been distributed among all, and also handed to him, they say 
that he admitted them, giving his testimony to their truth ; but that 
there was only wanting in the narrative the account of the things 
done by Christ, among the first of his deeds, and at the com- 
mencement of the gospel. And this was the truth. For it is evi- 
dent that the other three evangelists only wrote the deeds of our 
Lord for one year after the imprisonment of John the Baptist, 
and intimated this in the very beginning of their history. For 
after the fasting of forty days, and the consequent temptation, 
Matthew indeed specifies the time of his history, in these words : 
" But hearing that John was delivered up, he returned from Judea 
into Galilee." Mark in like manner writes : " But after John was 
deUvered up, Jesus came into Galilee ?" And Luke, before he com- 
menced the deeds of Jesus, in much the same way designates the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 109 

time saying, " Herod thus added, yet this wickedness above all 
he had committed, and that he shut up John in prison." For these 
reasons the apostle John, it is said, being entreated to undertake 
it, wrote the account of the time not recorded by the former 
evangehsts, and the deeds done by our Saviour, which they have 
passed by, (for these were the events that occurred before the 
imprisonment of John,) and this very fact is intimated by him, 
when he says, " this beginning of miracles Jesus made ;" and then 
proceeds to make mention of the Baptist, in the midst of our 
Lord's deeds, as John was at that time " baptising at iEnon near 
Salim." He plainly also shows this in the words : " John was 
not yet cast into prison." The apostle, therefore, in his gospel, 
gives the deeds of Jesus before the Baptist was cast into prison, 
but the other three evangelists mention the circumstances after 
that event. One who attends to these circumstances, can no 
longer entertain the opinion, that the gospels are at variance with 
each other, as the gospel of John comprehends the first events of 
Christ, but the others, the history that took place at the latter 
part of the time. It is probable, therefore, that for these reasons 
John has passed by in silence the genealogy of our Lord, be- 
cause it was written by Matthew and Luke, but that he com- 
menced with the doctrine of the divinity, as a part reserved for 
him, by the divine Spirit, as if for a superior. Let this suffice to 
be said respecting the gospel of John. The causes that induced 
Mark to write his, have already been stated. But Luke also in 
the commencement of his narrative, premises the cause which 
led him to write, showing that many others, having rashly un- 
dertaken to compose a narration of matters that he had already 
completely ascertained, in order to free us from the uncertain 
suppositions of others, in his own gospel, he delivered the cer- 
tain account of those things, that he himself had fully received 
from his intimacy and stay with Paul, and also, his intercourse 
with the other apostles. But this may suffice respecting these. 
At a more proper time we shall endeavour also to state, by a re- 
ference to some of the ancient writers, what others have said 
respecting the sacred books. But besides the gospel of John, his 
first epistle is acknowledged without dispute, both by those of the 



no ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

present day, and also by the ancients. The other two epistles, 
however, are disputed. The opinions respecting the revelation 
are still greatly divided. But we shall, in due time, give a judg- 
ment on this point, also from the testimony of the ancients. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Tke sacred Scriptures acknowledged as genuine, and those that 

are not 

This appears also to be the proper place, to give a summary 
statement of the books of the New Testament already mentioned. 
And here, among the first, must be placed the holy quaternion 
of the gospels ; these are followed by " The book of the Acts of 
the Apostles ;" after this must be mentioned the epistles of Paul, 
which are followed by the acknowledged first Epistle of John, as 
also the first of Peter, to be admitted in like manner. After these, 
are to be placed, if proper, the Revelation of John, concern- 
ing which we shall offer the different opinions in due time. 
These, then, are acknowledged as genuine. Among the dis- 
puted books, although they are well known and approved by 
many, is reputed, that called the Epistle of James and Jude. Also 
the " Second Epistle of Peter," and those called " The Second and 
Third of John," whether they are of the evangelist or of some 
other of the same name. Among the spurious must be num- 
bered, both the books called " The Acts of Paul," and that 
called " Pastor," and " The Revelation of Peter." Beside these, 
the books called " The Epistle of Barnabas," and what are 
called " The Institutions of the Apostles." Moreover, as I said 
before, if it should appear right, " The Revelation of John," 
which some, as before said, reject, but others rank among the 
genuine. But there are also some who number among these, 
the gospel according to the Hebrews, with which those of the 
Hebrews that have received Christ are particularly delighted. 
These may be said to be all concerning which there is any dis- 
pute. We have, however, necessarily subjoined here a catalogue 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. Ill 

of these also, in order to distinguish those that are true, genuine, 
and well authenticated writings, from those others which are 
not only not imbodied in the canon, but likewise disputed, notwith- 
standing that they are recognized by most ecclesiastical writers. 
Thus we may have it in our power to know both these books, 
and those that are adduced by the heretics under the name of 
the apostles, such, viz., as compose the gospels of Peter, Thomas, 
and Matthew, and others beside them, or such as contain the 
Acts of the Apostles, by Andrew, and John, and others, of 
which no one of those writers in the ecclesiastical succession 
has condescended to make any mention in his works ; and indeed, 
the character of the style itself is very different from that of the 
apostles, and the sentiments, and the pui'port of those things that 
are advanced in them, deviating as far as possible from sound or- 
thodoxy, evidently proves they are the fictions of heretical men ; 
whence they are to be ranked not only among the spurious wri- 
tings, but are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious. 
Let us now proceed to the continuation of our history. 



CHAPTER XXVL 

Menander the impostor. 



Menander, who succeeded Simon Magus, exhibited himself in 
his conduct an instrument of diabolical wickedness, not inferior 
to the former. He also, was a Samaritan, and having made 
no less progress in his impostures than his master, revelled in 
still more arrogant pretensions to miracles ; saying that he was 
in truth the Saviour, once sent from the invisible worlds for the 
salvation of men ; teaching also, that no one could overcome 
even the very angels that formed the heavens in any other way, 
than by being first initiated into the magic discipline imparted by 
him, and by the baptism conferred by him for this purpose. Of 
which, those who were deemed worthy would obtain perpetual 
immortality in this very life, being no more subject to death, but 
continuing here the same, would be exempt from old age, and be 



112 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

in fact immortal. This account may be easily confirmed from 
Irenasus ; but Justin, in the same place where he mentions 
Simeon, also adds the narrative respecting this one as follows : 
"But we know that Menander who was a Samaritan of the 
village Caparattsea, becoming a disciple of Simeon, and likewise 
stimulated by the daemons, came to Antioch, and deceived many 
by his magic arts. He persuaded those that followed him, that 
they should never die. And there are now some of his followers 
that make a profession of the same thing. It was indeed, a 
diabohcal artifice, by means of such impostors assuming the title 
of Christians, to evince so much zeal in defaming the great 
mystery of piety by magic arts, and to rend asunder by these 
means the doctrines of the church respecting the immortality of 
the soul, and the resurrection of the dead. Those, however, who 
called these their Saviours, fell away from soKd hope. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

The Heresy of the Ehionites. 



The spirit of wickedness, however, being unable to shake some 
in their love of Christ, and yet finding them susceptible of his 
impressions in other respects, brought them over to his purposes. 
These are properly called Ebionites * by the ancients, as those 
who cherished low and mean opinions of Christ. For they con- 
sidered him a plain and common man, and justified only by his 
advances in virtue, and that he was born of the Virgin Mary, 
by natural generation. With them the observance of the law 
was altogether necessary, as if they could not be saved, only by 
faith in Christ and a corresponding life. Others, however, be- 
sides these, but of the same name, indeed avoided the absurdity 
of the opinions maintained by the former, not denying that the 
Lord was born of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost, and yet in like 

* The word ebion, in Hebrew, signifying poor, seems to allude either to the 
opinions or the condition of this sect. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 1 1 3 

manner, not acknowledging his pre-existence, though he was 
God, the word and wisdom, they turned aside into the same irre- 
ligion, as with the former they evinced great zeal to observ^e the 
ritual service of the law. These, indeed, thought on the one hand 
that all the epistles of the apostles ought to be rejected, calling 
him an apostate from the law, but on the other, only using the 
gospel according to the Hebrews, they esteem the others as of 
but Httle value. They also observe the Sabbath and other dis- 
cipline of the Jews, just like them, but on the other hand, they 
also celebrate the Lord's days very much like us, in commemo- 
ration of his resurrection. Whence, in consequence of such a 
course, they have also received their epithet, the name of Ebion- 
ites, exhibiting the poverty of their intellect. For it is thus that 
the Hebrews call a poor man. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

Cerinthus the Heresiarch. 



About the same time, we have understood, appeared Cerin- 
thus, the leader of another heresy. Caius, whose words we 
quoted above, in " The Disputation" attributed to him, writes 
thus respecting him : " But Cerinthus, by means of revelations 
which he pretended were written by a great apostle, also false- 
ly pretended to wonderful things, as if they were showed him 
by angels, asserting, that after the resurrection there would 
be an earthly kingdom of Christ, and that the flesh, i. e. men, 
again inhabiting Jerusalem, would be subject to desires and plea- 
sures. Being also an enemy to the divine Scriptures, with a 
view to deceive men, he said that there would be a space of a 
thousand years for celebrating nuptial festivals." Dionysius 
also, who obtained the episcopate of Alexandria in our day, in 
the second book " On Promises," where he says some things as 
if received by ancient tradition, makes mention of the same man, 
in these words : " But it is highly probable that Cerinthus, the 
same that established the heresy that bears his name, designedly 

P 



114 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

affixed the name (of John) to his own forgery. For one of the 
doctrines that he taught was, that Christ would have an earthly- 
kingdom. And as he was a voluptuary, and altogether sen- 
sual, he conjectured that it would consist in those things that he 
craved in the gratification of appetite and lust ; i. e. in eating, 
drinking, and marrying, or in such things whereby he supposed 
these sensual pleasures might be presented in more decent ex- 
pressions ; viz. in festivals, sacrifices, and the slaying of victims." 
Thus far Dionysius. But Irenaeus, in his first book against here- 
sies, adds certain false doctrines of the man, though kept more 
secret, and gives a history in his third book, that deserves to be 
recorded, as received by tradition from Polycarp. He says that 
John the apostle once entered a bath to wash ; but ascertaining 
Cerinthus was within, he leaped out of the place, and fled from 
the door, not enduring to enter under the same roof with him, 
and exhorted those with him to do the same, saying, " let us flee, 
lest the bath fall in, as long as Cerinthus, that enemy of the truth, 
is within." 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Nicolaus and his followers. 



About this time, also, for a very short time, arose the heresy 
of those sailed Nicolaites, of which also mention is made in the 
revelation of John. These boasted of Nicolaus as their founder, 
one of those deacons who with Stephen were appointed by the 
apostles to minister unto the poor. Clement of Alexandria, in the 
third book of his Stromata, relates the following respecting him, 
" Having a beautiful wife, and being reproached after the ascen- 
sion of our Lord, with jealousy by the apostles, he conducted her 
into the midst of them, and permitted any one that wished to 
marry her. This they say was perfectly consistent with that 
expression of his, "that every one ought to abuse his own 
flesh." And thus those that adopted his heresy, following both 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 115 

this example and expression literally, rush headlong into fornica- 
tion without shame. I have ascertained, however, that Nicolaus 
lived with no other woman than the one to whom he was mar- 
ried, but that his daughters continued in the state of virginity 
to advanced life; that his son also remained uncorrupt. It 
would appear, therefore, from these facts, that the introduction 
of his wife into the midst of the apostles, on account of jealousy, 
was rather the suppression of passion. And, therefore, abstinence 
from those pleasures that are so eagerly pursued, was inculcated 
by the expression, ' we ought to abuse the flesh.' For I do not 
think, that according to the saying of our Lord, he wished to 
serve two masters, the flesh and the Lord. They indeed say 
that Matthew thus taught to fight against and to abuse the flesh, 
not to give way to any thing for the sake of pleasure, and to cul- 
tivate the spirit by faith and knowledge." But it may suffice to 
have said thus much concerning those who have attempted to 
mutilate the truth, and which again became extinct, sooner than 
said. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The apostles that lived in marriage. 

Clement indeed, whose words we have just cited, after the 
above mentioned facts, next gives a statement of those apostles 
that continued in the marriage state, on account of those who set 
marriage aside. " And will they," says he, " reject even the apos- 
tles ! Peter and Philip, indeed, had children, Philip, also gave his 
daughters in marriage to husbands, and Paul does not demur in 
a certain epistle to mention his own wife, whom he did not take 
about with him, in order to expedite his ministry the better." 
Since however, we have mentioned these, we shall not regret to 
subjoin another history worthy of record, from the same author, 
continued in the seventh book of the same work, Stromateus. 
" They relate," says he, " that the blessed Peter, seeing his own 
wife led away to execution, was delighted, on account of her 



116 ECCLESIASTICAL HJSTORY. 

calling and return to her country, and that he cried to her in a 
consolatory and encouraging voice, addressing her by name: 
" Oh thou, remember the Lord !" Such was the marriage of these 
blessed ones, and such was their perfect affection towards their 
dearest friends, and this account we have given in its proper 
place, as well adapted to the subject. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

The death of John and Philip, 



The time and manner of the death of Paul and Peter, and 
also the place where their bodies were interred after their de- 
parture from this life, has already been stated by us. The time 
when John died, has also, in some measure, been mentioned, but 
the place of his burial is shown from the epistle of Polycrates, 
who was bishop of the church of Ephesus, which epistle he wrote 
to Victor, bishop of Rome, and at the same time makes mention of 
him (John) and the apostle Philip, and his daughters, thus : " For 
in Asia, also, mighty luminaries have fallen asleep, which shall 
rise again at the last day, at the appearance of the Lord, when 
he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall gather again all 
the saints. Philip, one of the twelve apostles who sleeps in Hie- 
rapolis, and his two aged virgin daughters. Another of his daugh- 
ters, who lived in the holy Spirit, rests at Ephesus. Moreover, 
John, that rested on the bosom of our Lord, who was a priest 
that bore the sacerdotal plate, and martyr and teacher, he, also, 
rests at Ephesus." This may suffice as to their death ; and in the 
dialogue of Caius, which we mentioned a little before, Proclus, 
against whom he wrote his disputation, coinciding with what we 
have already advanced concerning the death of Philip and his 
daughters, speaks thus : " After this there were four prophetesses 
the daughters of Philip at Hierapolis in Asia, whose tomb, and 
that of their father, are to be seen there." Such is his statement. 
But Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, mentions the daughters of 
Philip, tarrying in Cesarea of Judea, and as endued with the gift 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 117 

of prophecy, in these words : " We came to Cesarea, and having 
entered the house of Phihp the evangelist, one of the seven, we 
abode with him. But he had four virgin daughters that prophe- 
sied." But as we have thus set forth what has come to our 
knowledge respecting the apostles and the apostoHcal times, as 
also respecting the sacred books that they have left us, both the 
disputed writings, though publicly used by many in most of the 
churches, and those that are altogether spurious, and far removed 
from the correct doctrine of the apostles, let us now proceed to 
our history in order. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The martyrdom of Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem. 

After Nero and Domitian, we have also been informed, that 
in the reign of the emperor, whose times we are now recording, 
there was a partial persecution excited throughout the cities, in 
consequence of a popular insurrection. In this we have under- 
stood, also, that Simeon died as a martyr, who, we have shown, 
was appointed the second bishop of the church at Jerusalem. To 
this the same Hegesippus bears testimony, whose words we have 
already so often quoted. This author, speaking of certain heretics, 
superadds, that Simeon indeed, about this time having borne the 
accusation of Christian, although he was tortured for several days, 
and astonished both the judge and his attendants in the highest 
degree, terminated his life with sufferings like those of our Lord. 
But it is best to hear the writer himself, who gives the account 
as follows: "Of these heretics," says he, "some reported Simeon 
the son of Cleophas, as a descendant of David, and a Christian; and 
thus he suffered as a martyr, when he was an hundred and twenty 
years old, in the reign of the emperOr Trajan, and the presidency of 
the consular Atticus. The same author says, that as search 
was made for the Jews that were of the tribe of David, his ac- 
cusers, as if they were descended from this family, were taken in 
custody. One might reasonably assert that this Simeon was 



118 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

among the witnesses that bore testimony to what they had both 
heard and seen of our Lord, if we are to judge by the length of 
his life, and the fact that the gospels make mention of Mary the 
daughter of Cleophas, whose son Simeon was, as we have already 
shown. But the same historian says, that there were others, the 
offspring of one of those considered brothers of the Lord, whose 
name was Judas, and that these Hved until the same reign after 
their profession of Christ, and the testimony under Domitian 
beforementioned. He writes thus : " There are also, those that 
take the lead of the whole church as martyrs, even the kindred 
of our Lord. And when profound peace was established through- 
out the church, they continued to the days of the emperor Tra- 
jan, until the time that the abovementioned Simeon, the relative 
of our Lord, being the son of Cleophas, was waylaid by the 
heresies, and also himself accused for the same cause, under At- 
ticus, who was of similar dignity. After he was tormented many 
days, he died a martyr, with such firmness, that all were amazed, 
even thie president himself, that a man of a hundred and twenty 
years should bear such tortures. He was at last ordered to be 
crucified." The same author, relating the events of the times, 
also says, that the church continued until then as a pure and un- 
corrupt virgin ; whilst if there were any at all, that attempted 
to pervert the sound doctrine of the saving gospel, they were yet 
skulking in dark retreats ; but when the sacred choir of apostles 
became extinct, and the generation of those that had been pri- 
vileged to hear their inspired wisdom, had passed away, then also 
the combinations of impious error arose by the fraud and delu- 
sions of false teachers. These also, as there was none of the 
apostles left, henceforth attempted, without shame, to preach 
their false doctrine against the gospel of truth. Such is the 
statement of Hegesippus. Let us, however, proceed in our history. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 119 

CHAPTER XXXIIL 

Trajan forbids the Christians to he sought after. 

So great a persecution was then commenced against our faith, 
in most places, that Plinius Secundus, one of the most distinguished 
governors, moved by the number of martyrs, communicated with 
the emperor respecting the multitudes that were put to death for 
their faith. At the same time he informed him, that as far as he 
had ascertained, they did nothing wicked or contrary to the laws ; 
except that they rose with the morning sun, and sang a hymn to 
Christ as to a god. But that adultery, and murder, and criminal 
excesses like these, were totally abhorred by them ; and that in 
all things they acted according to the laws. To this, Trajan in 
reply, issued a decree, the purport of which was, that no search 
should be made after those that were Christians, but when they 
presented themselves they should be punished. On this, the per- 
secution in some measure seemed abated, in its extreme violence, 
but there were no less pretexts left for those that wished to ha- 
rass us. Sometimes the people, sometimes the rulers of different 
places, would waylay us to ensnare us. So that mthout an obvi- 
ous persecution, there were partial persecutions in the provinces, 
and many of the faithful endured martyrdoms of various kinds. 
We have taken the account from the Apology of Tertullian, in 
Latin, mentioned above, of which, the translation is as follows : 
" And indeed," says he, '• we have found that the inquisition against 
us is prohibited. For Plinius Secundus, who was governor of the 
province, having condemned certain Christians, and deprived them 
of their dignity, was confounded by the great number, and in doubt 
what course he should pursue. He communicated, therefore, the 
fact to Trajan the emperor, saying, that with the exception they 
were not vdlling to sacrifice, he found nothing criminal in them. 
He stated also this, that the Christians arose with the sun, and 
sang to Christ as to a god ; and that for the purpose of keeping 
their disciphne, they prohibited adultery, murder, overreaching, 
fraud, and all crimes like them. To this, Trajan wrote in reply. 



120 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

that the Christians should not be inquired after, but when they 
presented themselves they should be punished." And such were 
the circumstances attending these events. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Euarestus, the fourth bishop of the church at Rome. 

In the third year of the abovementioned reign, Clement, bishop 
of Rome, committed the episcopal charge to Euarestus, and de- 
parted this life, after superintending the preaching of the divine 
word nine years. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Justus f the third bishop of Jerusalem, 

Simeon also having died in the manner shown above, a certain 
Jew named Justus succeeded him in the episcopate of Jerusalem. 
As there were great numbers from the circumcision, that came 
over to the Christian faith at that time, of whom Justus was one. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

The epistles of Ignatius, 



About this time flourished Polycarp in Asia, an intimate disci- 
ple of the apostles, who received the episcopate of the church at 
Smyrna, at the hands of the eyewitnesses and servants of the 
Lord. At this time, also, Papia^ was well known as bishop of the 
church at Hierapolis, a man well skilled in all manner of learning, 
and well acquainted with the Scriptures. Ignatius, also, who is 
celebrated by many even to this day, as the successor of Peter at 
Antioch, was the second that obtained the episcopal oflice there. 
Tradition says that he was sent away from Syria to Rome, and 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 121 

was cast as food to wild beasts, on account of his testimony to 
Christ. And being carried through Asia under a most rigid cus- 
tody, fortified the different churches in the cities were he tarried, 
by his discourses and exhortations ; particularly to caution them 
more against the heresies which even then were springing up and 
prevailing. He exhorted them to adhere firmly to the tradition of 
the apostles; which, for the sake of greater security, he deemed it 
necessary to attest by committing it to writing. When, therefore, 
he came to Smyrna, where Polycarp was, he wrote one epistle, 
viz. that to the church of Ephesus, in which he mentions its pas- 
tor Onesimus. Another, also, to the church in Magnesia, which is 
situated on the Meander, in which again he makes mention of 
Damas the bishop. Another, also, to the church of the Trallians, 
of which he states that Polybius was then bishop. To these must 
be added, the epistle to the church at Rome, which also contains 
an exhortation, not to disappoint him in his ardent hope, by re- 
fusing to endure martyrdom. Of these, it is worth while also to 
subjoin very short, extracts, by way of specimen. He writes, 
therefore, in the following manner : " From Syria to Rome, I 
am contending with wild beasts by land and sea, by night and 
day, being tied to ten leopards, the number of the military band, 
who, even when treated with kindness, only Ipehave with greater 
ferocity. But in the midst of these iniquities, I am learning. Yet 
I am not justified on this account. May I be benefited by those 
beasts that are in readiness for me, which I also pray may be 
quickly found for me, which also I shall entice and flatter to de- 
vour me quickly, and not to be afraid of me as of some whom they 
did not touch. But, should they perchance be unwilling, I will 
force them. Pardon me ; I know what advantage it will confer. 
Now I begin to be a disciple. Nothing, whether of things visible 
or invisible, excites my ambition, as long as I can gain Christ. 
Whether fire, or the cross, the assault of wild beasts, the tearing 
asunder of my bones, the breaking of my limbs, the bruising of 
my whole body, let the tortures of the devil all assail me, if I do 
but gain Christ Jesus." This he wrote from the abovementioned 
city to the aforesaid churches. But after he had left Smyrna, 
he wrote an exhortation from Troas to those in Philadelphia, and 

Q 



122 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

particularly to Polycarp, who was bishop there; whom he 
designates as an apostolical man and as a good and faithful 
shepherd, commends the flock of Antioch to him, requesting him 
to exercise a diligent oversight of the church. Writing to the 
Smyrnians, he has also employed words respecting Jesus, I know 
not whence they are taken, to the following effect. " But I know 
and believe that he was seen after the resurrection, and that he 
said to those that came to Peter, ' take, handle me, and see that 
I am not an incorporeal spirit ;' and they immediately touched 
him and believed." Irenaeus, also, knew his martyrdom, and 
makes mention of his epistles, as follows : " As some one of our 
faith has said, who was condemned to the wild beasts, ' I am the 
food of God, and am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may 
be found pure bread.' " Polycarp also makes mention of these 
same epistles in the Epistle to the Philippians, that bears his 
name, in the following words : " I exhort you, therefore, all to 
yield obedience, and to exercise all the patience which you see 
with your own eyes, not only in the blessed martyrs Ignatius and 
Rufus, and Zosimus, but likewise in others of your fellow-citizens, 
as also in Paul and the other apostles, being persuaded that all 
these did not run in vain, but in faith and righteousness, and that 
they are gone to the place destined for them by the Lord, for 
whom also they suffered. For they did not love the world that 
now is, but him that died for us, and that was raised again by 
God." And afterwards he writes: "You have also written to 
me, both you and Ignatius, that if any one is going to Syria, he 
should carry your letters thither, which shall be done if I find a 
suitable opportunity, either by me or the one that I send on this 
errand to you. The epistles of Ignatius that were sent to us by 
him, I have sent you at your request, and they are appended to 
this epistle, from which you will be able to derive great benefit : 
for they comprise faith, and patience, and all edification pertain- 
ing to our Lord." Thus much respecting Ignatius. But he was 
succeeded in the episcopal office at Antioch by Heros. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY 123 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

The preaching evangelists that were yet living in that age. 

Of those that flourished in these times, Quadratus is said to have 
been distinguished for his prophetical gifts. There were many 
others, also, noted in these times, who held the first rank in the apos- 
toHc succession. These, as the holy disciples of such men, also built 
up the churches where foundations had been previously laid in 
every place by the apostles. They augmented the means of promul- 
gating the gospel more and more, and spread the seeds of salva- 
tion and of the heavenly kingdom throughout the world far and 
wide. For the most of the disciples at that time, animated with 
a more ardent love of the divine word, had first fulfilled the Sa- 
viour's precept by distributing their substance to the needy. Af- 
terwards leaving their country, they performed the office of evan- 
gelists to those who had not yet heard the faith, whilst with a 
noble ambition to proclaim Christ, they also delivered to them the 
books of the holy gospels. After laying the foundation of the 
faith in foreign parts as the particular object of their mission, 
and after appointing others as shepherds of the flocks, and com- 
mitting to these the care of tliose that had been recently intro- 
duced, they went again to other regions and nations, with the 
grace and co-operation of God. The holy Spirit also, wrought 
many wonders as yet through them, so that as soon as the gospel 
was heard, men voluntarily in crowds, and eagerly, embraced the 
true faith with their whole minds. As it is impossible for us to 
give the numbers of the individuals that became pastors or evan- 
gelists, during the first immediate succession from the apostles in 
the churches throughout the world, we have only recorded those 
by name in our history, of whom we have received the traditional 
account as it is delivered in the various comments on the apostolic 
doctrine, still extant. 



124 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXXVIIL 

The Epistle of Clement, and those that are falsely ascribed to him. 

We may mention as an instance what Ignatius has said in the 
epistles we have cited, and Clement in that universally received 
by all, which he wrote in the name of the church at Rome to 
that of Corinth. In which, after giving many sentiments taken 
from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and also, literally quoting the 
words, he most clearly shows that this work is by no means a late 
production. Whence it is probable that this was also numbered 
with the other writings of the apostles. For as Paul had address- 
ed the Hebrews in the language of his country; some say that the 
evangelist Luke, others that Clement, translated the epistle. 
Which also appears more like the truth, as the epistle of Clement 
and that to the Hebrews, preserve the same features of style and 
phraseology, and because the sentiments in both these works are 
not very different. It should also be observed, that there is a 
second epistle ascribed to Clement; but we know not that this is as 
highly approved as the former, and know not that it has been in 
use with the ancients. There are also other writings reported to 
be his, verbose and of great length. Lately, and some time ago, 
those were produced that contain the dialogues of Peter and 
Apion, of which, however, not a syllable is recorded by the pri- 
mitive church. For they do not preserve the pure impress of 
apostolic orthodoxy. The epistle, therefore, of Qement, that is 
acknowledged as genuine is evident. But sufficient has been 
said on the writings of Ignatius and Polycarp. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The writings of Papias. 



There are said to be five books of Papias, which bear the 
title " Interpretation of our Lord's Declarations." Irenaeus also, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 125 

makes mention of these as the only works written by him, in the 
following terms : " These things are attested by Papias, who was 
John's hearer and the associate of Polycarp, an ancient writer, 
who mentions them in the fourth book of his works. For he has 
written a work in five books." So far Irenaeus. But Papias 
himself, in the preface to his discourses, by no means asserts that 
he was a hearer and an eye-witness of the holy apostles, but 
informs us that he received the doctrines of faith from their inti- 
mate friends, which he states in the following words : " But I 
shall not regret to subjoin to my interpretations, also for your 
benefit, whatsoever I have at any time accurately ascertained 
and treasured up in my memory, as I have received it from the 
elders, and have recorded it in order to give additional confirma- 
tion to the truth, by my testimony. For I have never, like many, 
delighted to hear those that tell many things, but those that teach 
the truth, neither those that record foreign precepts, but those 
that are given from the Lord, to our faith, and that came from 
the truth itself. But if I met with any one who had been a 
follower of the elders any where, I made it a point to inquire 
what were the declarations of the elders. What was said by 
Andrew, Peter or Philip. What by Thomas, James, John, Mat- 
thew, or any other of the disciples of our Lord. What was said 
by Aristion, and the presbyter John, disciples of the Lord ; for I 
do not think that I derived so much benefit from books as from 
the living voice of those that are still surviving." Where it is 
also proper to observe the name of John is twice mentioned. 
The former of which he mentions with Peter and James and 
Matthew, and the other apostles ; evidently meaning the evan- 
gelist. But in a separate point of his discourse he ranks the 
other John, with the rest not included in the number of apos- 
tles, placing Aristion before him. He distinguishes him plainly 
by the name of presbyter. So that it is here proved that the 
statement of those is true, who assert there were tw^o of the 
same name in Asia, that there were also two tombs in Ephesus, 
and that both are called John's even to this day ; which it is 
particularly necessary to observe. For it is probable that the 
second, if it be not allowed that it was the first, saw the revela- 



I'Se ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

tion ascribed to John. And the same Papias, of whom we now 
speak, professes to have received the declarations of the apostles 
from those that were in company with them, and says also that 
he was a hearer of Aristion and the presbyter John. For as he 
has often mentioned them by name, he also gives their state- 
ments in his own works. These matters, I trust, have not been 
uselessly adduced, ^ut it may be important also to subjoin other 
declarations to these passages from Papias, in which he gives cer- 
tain wonderful accounts, together with other matters that he 
seems to have received by tradition. That the apostle Philip 
continued at Hierapolis, with his daughters, has been already 
stated above. But we must now show how Papias, coming to 
them, received a wonderful account from the daughters of Philip. 
For he writes that in his time there was one raised from the dead. 
Another wonderful event happened respecting Justus, surnamed 
Barsabas, who, though he drank a deadly poison, experienced 
nothing injurious through the grace of the Lord. This same 
Justus is mentioned in the book of Acts, after the resurrection, 
as the one over whom, together with Matthew, the holy apostles 
prayed, in order to fill up their number, by casting lots, to sup- 
ply the place of Judas the traitor. The passage is as follows ; 
" And they placed two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was sur- 
named Justus and Matthias. And having prayed, they said." 
The same historian also gives other accounts, which he says he 
adds as received by him from unwritten tradition, likewise cer- 
tain strange parables of our Lord, and of his doctrine and some 
other matters rather too fabulous. In these he says there would 
be a certain millennium after the resurrection, and that there 
would be a corporeal reign of Christ on this very earth ; which 
things he appears to have imagined, as if they v^^ere authorized 
by the apostolic narrations, not understanding correctly those 
matters which they propounded mystically in their representa- 
tions. For he was very limited in his comprehension, as is evident 
from his discourses ; yet he was the cause why most of the ec- 
clesiastical writers, urging the antiquity of the man, were, carried 
away by a similar opinion ; as, for instance, Irenaus, or any other 
that adopted such sentiments. He has also inserted in his work 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 12? 

other accounts given by the abovementioned Aristion, respect- 
ing our Lord, as also the traditions of the Presbyter John, to 
which referring those that are desirous of learning them, we shall 
now subjoin to the extracts from him, already given, a tradition 
which he sets forth concerning Mark, who wrote the gospel in 
the following words : " And John the Presbyter also said this, 
Mark being the interpeter of Peter, whatsoever he recorded he 
wrote with great accuracy, but not however, in the order in 
which it was spoken or done by our Lord, for he neither heard 
nor followed our Lord, but as before said, he was in company with 
Peter, who gave him such instruction as was necessary, but not 
to give a history of our Lord's discourses : wherefore Mark has 
not erred in any thing, by writing some things as he has recorded 
them ; for he was carefully attentive to one thing, not to pass by 
any thing that he heard, or to state any thing falsely in these ac- 
counts." Such is the account of Papias, respecting Mark. Of 
Matthew he has stated as follows : " Matthew composed his his- 
tory in the Hebrew dialect*, and every one translated it as he 
was able." The same author (Papias) made use of testimonies 
from the first epistle of John, and likewise from that of Peter. 
He also gives another history of a woman, who had been accused 
of many sins before the Lord, which is also contained in the gos- 
pel according to the Hebrews. And this may be noted as a ne- 
cessary addition to what we have before stated. 

* The author here, doubtless, means the Syro-Chaldaic, which is sometimes in 
Scripture, and primitive writers, called Hebrew. 



BOOK IV. 



CHAPTER I. 

The bishops of Rome and Alexandria, in the reign of Trajan. 

About the twelfth year of the reign of Trajan, the bishop of 
the church of Alexandria, who was mentioned by us a little be- 
fore, departed this life. Primus was the fourth from the apos- 
tles to whom the functions of the office were there allotted. At 
the same time also, after Euarestus had completed the eighth 
year as bishop of Rome, he was succeeded in the episcopal office 
by Alexander, the fifth in the succession from Peter and Paul. 



CHAPTER II. 

The calamities of the Jews about this time. 

But the doctrines of our Saviour, and the church flourishing 
from day to day, continued to receive constant accessions. But the 
calamities of the Jews also continued to grow with one accumula- 
tion of evil upon another. The emperor was now advancing into 
the eighteenth year of his reign, and another commotion of the 
Jews being raised, he destroyed a very great number of them. 
For in Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and also in Cyrene, as 
if actuated by some terrible and tempestuous spirit, they rushed 
upon seditious measures against the Greeks of the same place. 
Having increased the insurrection to a great extent, they excited 
no inconsiderable war the following year, when Lupus was go- 
vernor of all Egypt. And in the first conflict, indeed, it happened 
that they prevailed over the Greeks ; who, retreating into Alexan- 
dria, took and destroyed the Jews that were found in the city. 

128 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 129 

But the Jews of Cyrene being deprived of their assistance, after 
laying waste the country of Egypt, also proceeded to destroy its 
districts, under their leader Lucuas. Against these the emperor 
sent Marcius Turbo, with foot and naval forces, besides cavalry. 
He, however, protracting the war a long time against them in 
many battles, slew many thousand Jews, not only of Cyrene, but 
also of Egypt that had joined them, together wdth their leader 
Lucuas. But the emperor suspecting that the Jews in Mesopo- 
tamia would also make an attack upon those there, ordered Lu- 
cius Quietus to clear the province of them, who also led an army 
against them, and slew a great multitude of them. Upon which 
victory, he was appointed governor of Judea by the emperor. 
These things are recorded by the Greek writers of the day, in 
nearly the same words. 



CHAPTER III. 



The authors that vyrote in the defence of the faith, in the reign of 

Adrian. 

But Trajan having held the sovereignty for twenty years, want- 
ing six months, is succeeded in the imperial office by ^lius Ha- 
drian. To him, Quadratus addressed a discoiu-se, as an apology 
for the religion that we profess ; because certain malicious persons 
attempted to harass our brethren. The work is still in the hands 
of some of the brethren, as also in our own, from which any one 
may see evident proof, both of the understanding of the man, and 
of his apostolic faith. 

This writer shows the antiquity of the age in which he lived, 
in these passages : " The deeds of our Saviour," says he, " were 
always before you, for they were true miracles ; those that were 
healed, those that were raised from the dead, who were seen, not 
only when healed and when raised, but were always present. 
They remained living a long time, not only whilst our Lord was 
on earth, but likewise when he had left the earth. So that some 
of them have also lived to our own times." Such was Quadratus. 

R 



130 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Aristides, also, a man faithfully devoted to the religion we profess, 
like Q-uadratus, has left to posterity a defence of the faith, ad- 
dressed to Adrian. This work is also preserved by a great num- 
ber, even to the present day. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The bishops of Alexandria and Rome, under the same emperor. 

But in the third year of the same reign, Alexander, bishop of 
Rome, died, having completed the tenth year of his ministrations. 
Xystus was his successor; and about the same time Primus dying, 
in the twelfth year of the episcopate, was succeeded by Justus. 



CHAPTER V. 



The bishops of Jerusalem, from the period of our Saviour until 

these times. 

We have not ascertained in any way, that the times of the 
bishops in Jerusalem have been regularly preserved on record, for 
tradition says that they all Hved but a very short time. So much, 
however, have I learned from writers, that down to the invasion 
of the Jews under Adrian, there were fifteen successions of bi- 
shops in that church, all which, they say, were Hebrews from the 
first, and received the knowledge of Christ pure and unadultera- 
ted ; so that, in the estimation of those who were able to judge, 
they were well approved, and worthy of the episcopal office. For 
at that time the whole church under them, consisted of faithful 
Hebrews, who continued from the time of the apostles, until the 
siege that then took place. The Jews then again revolting from 
the Romans, were subdued and captured, after very severe con- 
flicts. In the mean time, as the bishops from the circumcision 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 131 

failed, it may be necessary now to recount them in order, from 
the first The first, then, was James called the brother of our 
Lord ; after whom, the second was Simeon, the third Justus, the 
fourth Zaccheus, the fifth Tobias, the sixth Benjamin, the seventh 
John, the eighth Matthew, the ninth Philip, the tenth Seneca, 
the eleventh Justus, the twelfth Levi, the thirteenth Ephres, the 
fourteenth Joseph, and finally, the fifteenth Judas, These are all 
the bishops of Jerusalem that filled up the time from the apostles 
until the abovementioned time, all of the circumcision. And 
Adrian being now in the twelfth year of his reign, Xystus, who 
had now completed the tenth year of his episcopate, was suc- 
ceeded by Telesphorus, the seventh in succession from the apostles. 
In the mean time, however, after the lapse of a year and some 
months, Eumenes succeeded, the sixth in order in the episcopate 
of Alexandria, his predecessor having filled the office eleven years. 



CHAPTER VL 

The last siege of the Jews, under Adrian, 

As the revolt of the Jews again proceeded to many and great 
excesses, Rufus, who was Heutenant-governor of Judea, having 
received an augmentation of forces from the emperor, and using 
their madness as a pretext, destroyed, without mercy, myriads of 
men, women, and children in crowds ; and by the laws of war, he 
reduced their country to a state of absolute subjection. The Jews 
were then led on by one Barchochebas, signifying a star, but who 
was in other respects a murderer and robber. But by means of 
his assumed title, among a degraded race, now reduced to the 
condition of slaves, he pretended to many miracles, as if he were 
a light descending from heaven, whose object was to cheer them 
in their oppression. But in the eighteenth year of the reign of 
Adrian, when the war had reached its height at the city of Bitthe- 
ra, a very strong fortress not very far from Jerusalem, the siege was 
continued for some time, and the revolters were driven to the last 



132 ECCELSIASTICAL HISTORY. 

extreme by hunger and famine. The author of their madness had 
also suffered his just punishment, and the whole nation from that 
time were totally prohibited, by the decree and commands of 
Adrian, from even entering the country about Jerusalem, so that 
they could not behold the soil of their fathers even at a distance. 
Such is the statement of Aristo, of Pella. The city of the Jews 
being thus reduced to a state of abandonment for them, and totally 
stripped of its ancient inhabitants, and also inhabited by strangers ; 
the Roman city which subsequently arose, changing its name, was 
called iElia, in honour of the emperor ^Elius Adrian; and when 
the church was collected there of the Gentiles, the first bishop 
after those of the circumcision was Marcus. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Those who were considered leaders in false doctrine at this time. 

As the churches now were reflecting the light like splendid 
luminaries throughout the world, and the faith of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ was spreading so as to embrace the whole 
human race, the malignant spirit of iniquity, as the enemy of all 
truth, and always the most violent enemy to the salvation of men, 
was now devising every species of machination against the 
church, as he had already before armed himself against it by 
former persecutions. When, however, cut oflf from those, he 
then waged a war by other methods, in which he employed 
the agency of wicked impostors as certain abandoned instru- 
ments and minions of destruction. Intent upon every course, 
he instigated these insidious impostors and deceivers, by assum- 
ing the same name with us (Christians) to lead those believers 
whom they happened to seduce to the depths of destruction, and 
by their presumption, also turn those that were ignorant of the 
faith, from the path that led to the saving truth of God. Hence 
a certain double-headed and double-tongued serpentine power, 
proceeding from that Menander whom we have already men- 
tioned as the successor of Simon, produced two leaders of dif- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 133 

ferent heresies ; Saturninus, a native of Antioch, and Basilides, 
of Alexandria. The former of these estabhshed schools of im- 
pious heresy in Syria, the latter in Egypt. Irenseus, indeed, states, 
that in most respects Satm^ninus held the same false doctrines 
with Menander, but that Basilides, under the pretext of matters too 
deep to be divulged, stretched his inventions to a boundless ex- 
tent, in his astonishing fictions of impious heresy. But as there 
were at the time many ecclesiastical writers, who contended for 
the truth, and defended the doctrine of the apostles and the 
church, with more than common learning, so there w^ere also 
some who, by publishing their writings, furnished preventives by 
the way against these heresies. Of these, the best refutation of 
Basilides that has come down to us, is that of Agrippa Castor, 
one of the most distinguished writers of that day. In this refu- 
tation he fully exposes the dreadful imposture of the man, and 
reveals his pretended mysteries. He says, that he composed 
twenty-four books upon the gospels, and that he mentions Bar- 
cabbas, and Barcoph, as prophets, and invents others for himself 
that never existed. That he also gave them certain barbarous 
names, in order to astonish those the more who are easily ensnared 
by such things as these. That he taught also, it was indifferent 
for those that tasted of things sacrificed to idols, and were be- 
trayed unwarily to abjure the faith in times of persecution. Like 
Pythagoras, he enjoined, also, upon his followers a silence of 
five years. Other accounts similar to these are given by the 
abovementioned author, respecting Basilides, in which he ably 
exposes the fallacy of his heresy. Irenseus also writes, that 
Carpocrates was contemporary with these, who was also the fa- 
ther of another heresy, called the heresy of the Gnostics. 

These did not, like the former, wish to retain the magic arts of 
Simon in secret, but thought that they should be made pubHc. So 
that, as if it were something great and glorious, they boasted of 
preparations of love potions, and of tutelary and dream-exciting 
daemons, and other similar magic rites. In accordance with 
these things, they also taught, that the basest deeds should be 
perpetrated by those that would arrive at perfection in the mys- 
teries, or rather, that w^ould reach the extent of their abomina- 



184 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

tions. So that, as they were accustomed to speak, one could in 
no other way escape the rulers of the world, unless by performing 
his part of obscenity to all. By the aid of such coadjutors, it 
happened, that the spirit of wickedness enslaved those that were 
led astray by them to their own destruction ; whilst to the unbe- 
lieving Gentiles, they afforded abundant scope to slander the truth 
of God, as the report proceeding from them extended with its 
infamy to the whole body of Christians. In this way it happened, 
therefore, for the most part, that a certain impious and most 
absurd suspicion was spread abroad among the unbelievers re- 
specting us, as of those who had unlawful commerce with mothers 
and sisters, and made use of execrable food. These artifices, 
however, did not continue to advance far, as the truth never- 
theless established itself, and in process of time shed abroad its 
own Hght more and more. Indeed, the machinations of its ene- 
mies were almost immediately extinguished by the power of 
truth; one sect rising after another, the first always passing 
away, and one in one way, and another in another, evaporating 
into speculations of many modes, and as many forms. But the 
splendour of the universal and only true church constantly ad- 
vanced in greatness and glory, always the same in all matters 
under the same circumstances, and reflected its dignity, its sin- 
cerity, its freedom, the modesty and purity of that divine hfe and 
temper which it inculcates, to all nations, both Greeks and bar- 
barians. At the same time with the above heresy, were extin- 
guished, also, the aspersions upon our religion. For the doctrine 
that we hold has alone survived, has prevailed over all, and been 
universally acknowledged as surpassing all in dignity and gra- 
vity, in divine truths that evince a genuine and sound philosophy. 
So that no one, down to the present time, has dared to af- 
fix any calumny upon our faith, nor any such slander, such as 
was formerly so eagerly applied by those that rose up against us. 
Nevertheless, in those times the truth presented many champi- 
ons that undertook its defence, not only by unwritten argument- 
ation, but, also, by their written demonstrations against the pre- 
vailing heretical impieties. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 135 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The ecclesiastical writers then Jlourishing. 

Among these, Hegesippus holds a distinguished rank, many of 
whose writings we have already quoted, where we have given 
some things as he has delivered them from apostolic tradition. 
This author compiled, in five books, the plain tradition of the apos- 
tohc doctrine, in a most simple style of composition, and clearly 
shows the time in which he lived, where he writes respecting those 
that began to erect idols, as follows : " To whom they made ce- 
notaphs and temples, as we see to this day. Among whom was 
Antinous, the slave of Adrian the emperor, to whose honour like- 
wise games are celebrated, which has been done in our own days. 
For he (Adrian,) also built a city, called after Antinous, and in- 
stituted prophets." At this time also, Justin, a true lover of sound 
philosophy, whilst he yet continued exercising himself in the lite- 
rature of the Greeks, likewise shows this very time in his apology 
to Antonine, as follows : " I do not think it out of place here, to men- 
tion Antinous of our own day, whom all, notwithstanding they 
know who and whence he was, yet aflfected to worship as a god." 
The same author adds this remark, speaking of the Jewish war : 
" And, indeed, in the Jewish war which has happened in our times, 
Barchochebas, the leader of the Jewish revolt, commanded the 
Christians alone to be led to severe and dreadful tortures, unless 
they would deny and blaspheme Christ Jesus." In the same work, 
also, showing his own conversion from the Greek philosophy to re- 
ligion to be the effect of cool deliberation and judgment, and not 
without good reason, writes as follows : " For whilst I was de- 
lighted with the doctrines of Plato, and heard the Christians ca- 
lumniated, but at the same time saw them intrepid at the prospect 
of death, and every thing deemed terrific, I reflected that it was 
impossible they should live devoted to vice and voluptuousness. 
For what lover of pleasure, or intemperate man, or what man 
deeming human flesh a delicacy, could embrace death in order 
to be deprived of the objects of his own desires ; and would not 



136 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

rather strive to live always to escape the eye of the magistrate, 
and not inform against himself, in the expectation of certain 
death." The same author, moreover, relates, that Adrian hav- 
ing received letters from Serenius Granianus, the most illustrious 
proconsul, respecting the Christians, in which he states, that it 
did not appear just to put the Christians to death without a re- 
gular accusation and trial, merely to gratify the outcries of the 
populace ; and that he wrote back to Minucius Fundanus, procon- 
sul of Asia, enjoining upon him to put no one to death, without 
an indictment and lawful accusation. Of this epistle, also, he 
(Justin,) adds a copy in the Latin tongue, in which it was written. 
He also premises the following explanation. " Although we have 
good cause, from the epistle of your most illustrious father, the 
emperor Adrian, to request of you as we requested of him, that 
the Christians should be regularly tried ; this we have requested, 
not so much because it was ordered by Adrian, as because we 
know that the object of our request is just. We have also subr 
joined a copy of Adrian's epistle, that you may know we declare 
the truth likewise in this. And here it follows." To this, the au- 
thor adds the copy of the epistle, in the Latin tongue ; and we have 
translated it into the Greek, according to the best of our abilities, 
as follows. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The epistle of Hadrian, forbidding the Christians to be punished 
without trial. 

" To Minucius Fundanus. I have received an epistle, written 
to me by the most illustrious Serenius Granianus, whom you have 
"succeeded. I do not wish, therefore, that the matter should be 
passed by without examination, so that these men may neither 
be harassed, nor opportunity of malicious proceedings be offered 
to informers. If, therefore, the provincials can clearly evince their 
charges against the Christians, so as to answer before the tribu- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 137 

nal, let them pursue this course only, but not by mere petitions, 
and mere outcries against the Christians. For it is far more pro- 
per, if any one would bring an accusation, that you should exa- 
mine it. If any one, therefore, brings an accusation, and can 
show that they have done any thing contrary to the laws, deter- 
mine it thus according to the heinousness of the crime. So that 
indeed, if any one should pui^pose this with a view to slander, in- 
vestigate it according to its criminality, and see to it that you 
inflict the punishment." Such, then, is the copy of Adrian's letter. 



CHAPTER X. 

The bishops of Rome and Alexandria, in the reign of Antonine. 

But this emperor (Adrian,) having finished his mortal career, 
after the twenty-first year of his reign, is succeeded by Antonine, 
called the Pious, in the government of the Romans. In the first 
year of this reign, and in the eleventh year of his episcopate, Te- 
lesphorus departed this life, and was succeeded in the charge of 
the Roman church by Hyginus. Irenaeus, indeed, relates that 
Telesphorus was rendered illustrious by martyrdom ; showing, at 
the same time, that under the abovementioned Roman bishop 
Hyginus, Valentinus the founder of a peculiar heresy, and Cer- 
don the leader in the errors propagated by Marcion, were both 
notorious at Rome. His statement is as follows. 



CHAPTER XL 

The heresiarchs of these times. 



" Valentine came to Rome under Hyginus, was in his prime 
imder Pius, and lived until the time of Anicetus. But Cerdon, 
who preceded Marcion, and flourished under the episcopate of Hy- 
ginus the ninth in succession, coming to the church, and ac- 

S 



138 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

knowledging his error, continued in this way, at one time secretly 
teaching his doctrines, at another renouncing them again, some- 
times also, convicted of his perverse doctrines, kept aloof from 
assembling with the brethren." Such is the account of Irenaeus 
in the third book against the heresies. In the first, however, he 
relates the following respecting Cerdon : " A certain man, how- 
ever, by name Cerdon, who derived his first impulse from the fol- 
lowers of Simon, and who made some stay at Rome, under Hy- 
ginus the ninth, that held the episcopate in succession from the 
apostles, taught that the God who had been proclaimed by the 
law and prophets, was not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
for the latter was revealed, the other was unknown ; the former 
also, was just, but the other was good. Marcion, who was from 
Pontus, having succeeded Cerdon, augmented his school by utter- 
ing his blasphemies without a blush. But the same Irenasus, 
having most dexterously unravelled the bottomless abyss of the 
errors enveloped in the Valentinian heresy, laid bare the wick- 
edness concealed in it, like a serpent lurking in his nest." Be- 
sides these, he says there was another (Marcus was his name,) 
about the same time, who was a most perfect adept in magic illu- 
sions; and he describes also, their profane rites of initiation, and 
their abominable mysteries, in the following language : " Some 
of them," says he, " prepare a nuptial bed, and they perform the 
mystery of initiation with certain forms addressed to the initiated. 
This, they say, is the spiritual marriage that has taken place with 
them, bearing form and resemblance to the marriages above. 
Some conduct them to water, and baptizing them, repeat these 
words, ' unto the name of the unknown Father of the universe, 
unto the truth the mother of all, unto Jesus, unto him that 
descended.' Others, again, repeated Hebrew names in order the 
better to confound the initiated." But Hyginus dying after the 
fourth year of his office, Pius received the episcopate, but at 
Alexandria Marcus was appointed the pastor, after Eumenes 
had filled the office thirteen years in all. Marcus also dying, 
after ten years of his ministrations, Celadin had charge of the 
church of Alexandria, and Pius dying at Rome in the fifteenth 
year of his episcopate, the church there was governed by Anice- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 139 

tus. At this time Hegesippus writes that he was at Rome, and 
continued there until the episcopate of Eleutherus. But Justin 
was the most noted of those that flourished in those times, who, 
in the guise of a philosopher, preached the truth of God, and 
contended for the faith, also, in his writings. In a work that he 
wrote against Marcion, he mentions, that at the time he wrote, 
the man was yet living. He says that a certain Marcion from 
Pontus, who is now still teaching those that believe him, to think 
that there is another God greater than God the creator ; that he 
by means of conjunction with daemons, persuaded many through- 
out the whole world, to utter blasphemy, and to deny that the 
Creator of all things was the father of Christ ; they asserted, 
also, that another who was greater than He, was the creator. 
But, as we said before, all the followers of these were called 
Christians, just as the name of philosophy is applied to philoso- 
phers, although they may have no opinions in common. To 
these he adds : " We have also written a work against all the 
heresies that have arisen, which we will give you to peruse if 
you wish." But this same Justin, after having contended with 
great success against the Greeks, addressed also other works, 
containing a defence of our faith, to the emperor Antonine, sur- 
named the Pious, and to the senate of Rome. He also had his 
residence at Rome, but he shows who and whence he was in the 
following extracts in his Apology. 



CHAPTER XIL 

The Apology of Justin^ addressed to Antoninus. 

" To the emperor Titus iElius Adrian Antoninus Pius Cesar 
Augustus, and to Onesimus his son the philosopher, and to Lucius 
the natural son of Cesar the philosopher, and the adopted son of 
Pius, a votary of learning ; also, to the sacred senate and the 
whole Roman people, in behalf of those who of all nations are 
now unjustly hated and aspersed ; I, Justin, the son of Prisons, the 
grandson of Bacchius of Flavia, the new city of Palestine, Syria, 



140 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

being one of their number, present this volume and address." The 
same emperor was also addressed by others when the brethren 
in Asia were suffering under every kind of injury from the pro- 
vincials, and honoured the people of Asia with an ordinance like 
the following. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



The Epistle of Antonine, to the assembly of Asia, respecting our 

doctrine. 

The emperor Cesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus, 
Armenicus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribune of the people XV. 
Consul III., sends greeting, to the Assembly of Asia ; * I know, 
indeed, that the gods themselves will take care that such men 
as these shall not escape detection. For it would more pro- 
perly belong to them to punish those that will not worship them, 
than to you. And whilst you drive them into a tumult, you only 
confirm them the more in their mind, by accusing them as im- 
pious. And thus, to them it would be more desirable when ar- 
raigned, to appear to die for their God, than to live. Whence, 
also, they may come off in triumph, when they yield up their 
Hves in preference to a conformity with those things which you 
exact of them. But as to those earthquakes which have taken 
place and still continue, it is not out of place to admonish you 
who are cast down whenever these happen, and you compare 
your own deportment with theirs. They, indeed, become on 
these occasions so much the more cheerful towards God, but 
you, the whole of this time in which you seem not to have cor- 
rect knowledge, neglect both the gods and other duties, especially 
the worship of the Immortal. But the Christians who worship 
Him, you expel and persecute to death. Respecting these, how- 
ever, many of the governors of the provinces also wrote to our 
smost divine father. To whom, also, he wrote in reply, not to 
trouble them at all, unless they appeared to make attempts 
against the Roman government. Many also have sent commu- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 141 

nications to me respecting them, to whom also, I wrote m reply, 
following the course pursued by my father. But if any still per- 
severe in creating difficulties to any one of these because he is 
of this description (i. e. a Christian,) let him that is thus ar- 
raigned be absolved from crime, although he should appear to 
be such, but let the accuser be held guilty." This was published 
at Ephesus in the public convention of Asia. To these events 
Melito bears testimony, who w^as then bishop of Sardis, and well 
known at that time. This is clear from what he has said in that 
most excellent defence of our faith which he wrote and address- 
ed to the emperor Verus. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Circumstances related of Polycarp, an apostolic man. 

About this time, when Anicetus was at the head of the Roman 
church, Irenasus says that Polycarp was yet living, and coming 
to Rome, had a conference with Anicetus, on a question respect- 
ing the day of the passover. He also gives another account of 
Polycarp, which should be added to what is already related 
respecting him. The story is taken from the third book of Irenseus 
against the heresies, and is as follows : " And Polycarp, a man 
who had been instructed by the apostles, and had familiar inter- 
course with many that had seen Christ, and had also been ap- 
pointed bishop by the apostles in Asia, in the church at Smyrna, 
whom we also have seen in our youth, for he lived a long time, 
and to a very advanced age, when, after a glorious and most 
distinguished martyrdom, he departed this life. He always 
taught what he had learned from the apostles, what the church 
had handed dow^n, and what is the only true doctrine. All the 
churches bear witness to these things, and those that have been 
the successors of Polycarp, to the present time, a wdtness of the 
truth much more worthy of credit, and much more certain than 
either Valentine or Marcion, or the rest of those perverse teach- 
ers. The same Polycarp, coming to Rome under the episcopate 



142 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of Anicetus, turned many from the aforesaid heretics to the 
church of God, proclaiming the one and only true faith, that he 
had received from the apostles, that, viz., which was delivered 
by the church. And there are those still living who heard him 
relate, that John the disciple of the Lord went into a bath at 
Ephesus, and seeing Cerinthus within, ran out without bathing, 
and exclaimed, " let us flee lest the bath should fall in, as long as 
Cerinthus, that enemy of truth, is within." And the same Poly- 
carp, once coming and meeting Marcion, who said, " acknow- 
ledge us, " he, rephed, " I acknowledge* the first born of Satan." 
Such caution did the apostles and their disciples use, so as not 
even to have any communion, even in w^ord with any of those 
that thus mutilated the truth, according to the declaration of 
Paul : " An heretical man after the first and second admonition 
avoid, knowing that such an one is perverse, and that he sins, 
bringing condemnation upon himself" There is, also, an excel- 
lent epistle of Polycai^ to the PhiHppians. From which those 
that wish, and that have any concern for their salvation, may 
perceive both the character of his faith, and the doctrine of the 
truth." Such is the account of Irenseus. But Polycarp, in the 
epistle to the Philippians, still extant, has made use of certain 
testimonies taken from the first epistle of Peter. About this time 
Antonine, surnamed the Pious, having completed the twenty-se- 
cond year of his reign, was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius Ve- 
rus, who is also called Antoninus, his son, together with his bro- 
ther Lucius. 

* It was customary in the primitive church to use this expression as a form of 
salutation, particularly at the communion. I acknowledge thee, therefore, is the 
same as " I salute thee." 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 143 

CHAPTER XV. 

The martyrdom ofPolycarp^ with others at Smyrna, 

At this time, as there were the greatest persecutions excited 
in Asia, Polycarp ended his life by martyrdom. But I consider it 
all-important also to record his end in this history, as it is handed 
down in writings still extant There is, however, an epistle of the 
church which he superintended, to the churches of Pontus, which 
shows what befel him, in the following words : " The church of 
God at Smyrna, to that of Philomehus, and to all* parts of the 
holy cathohc, (universal church,) everywhere, mercy, peace, and 
the love of God the Father, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, be mul- 
tiplied. We have written to you, brethren, the circumstances 
respecting the martyrs, and the blessed Polycarp, who as if seal- 
ing it with his martyrdom has also put a stop to the persecution." 
After these, before the account of Polycarp's death, they give the 
account of the other martyrs, and show what firmness they 
evinced against the tortures they endured. " For," say they, " those 
standing around, were struck with amazement, at seeing them 
lacerated with scourges, to their very blood and arteries, so that 
now^ the flesh concealed in the very inmost parts of the body, 
and the bowels themselves were exposed to view. Then they 
were laid upon conch shells from the sea, and on sharp heads 
and points of spears on the ground, and after passing through 
every kind of punishment and torment, were at last thrown as 
food to wild beasts. But they relate that Germanicus, a most 
noble youth, w^as particularly eminent as a martyr ; who, 
strengthened by divine grace, overcame the natural dread of 
death implanted in us ; although the proconsul was desirous 
of persuading him, and urged him from considerations of his youth, 
and entreated him, that as he was so very young and blooming 
he should take compassion on himself. He, however, hesitated 
not, but eagerly hritated the wild beast against him, all but 
forcing and stimulating him, that he might the sooner be freed 
from this unjust and lawless generation. On the glorious death 



144 ECCI,ESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of this one, the whole multitude amazed at the courage of the 
pious martyr, and at the fortitude of the whole race of Christ- 
ians, began to cry out " Away with the wicked fellows, let Poly- 
carp be sought." A very great tumult arising in consequence 
of these outcries, a certain Phrygian, Q,uintus by name, who had 
recently come from Phrygia, seeing the beasts and the additional 
tortures threatened, was so overcome by fear and shaken in his 
resolution, that he finally gave up his salvation. The contents of 
the aforesaid epistle, show that this man had frowardly rushed 
forward to the tribunal with others, and not in a modest retiring 
manner ; and yet when seized, he gave a manifest proof to all, 
that it is noli* proper for those in this situation, to brave danger by 
rushing blindly and rashly upon it. Thus far, however, respect- 
ing these. But the admirable Polycarp hearing these things, at first, 
continued unmoved, preserving his firm and unshaken mind, and, 
had determined to remain there in the city. But persuaded by the 
entreaties of those around him, and exhorting him to leave the city 
secretly, he went forth to a farm not far from it. There he staid 
with a few friends, night and day, engaged in nothing but constant 
prayer to the Lord, and imploring peace for all the churches 
throughout the world. For this had always been his practice. In 
this situation, three days before he was seized, in a vision at night, 
and during prayer, the pillow under his head seemed to him sud- 
denly to take fire, and thus to be consumed. On this, waking out 
of his sleep, he immediately began to interpret the vision to those 
present, almost fortelling the event that was about to take place, 
and plainly declaring to those around him, that it would be ne- 
cessary for him to give up his life in the flames for Christ's sake. 
Those, however, that were in search of him, making every effort to 
discover him, he was again constrained by the affection and love of 
the brethren, to go away to another part of the country. Thither 
the pursuers came upon him, not long after, and caught two boys 
there, one of which they scourged in order to direct them to the 
retreat of Polycarp. Entering upon him at a late hour of the 
day, they found him, indeed, resting in an upper room, whence, 
although he might easily have escaped to another house, he 
would not, saying : " The Lord's will be done," and having 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



145 



understood also that they were come, as it is said, he descended 
and addressed the men with a very cheerful and mild counte- 
nance, so that those who did not know him before, thought they 
beheld a miracle, as they beheld the advanced age of the man, 
the gravity and firmness of his countenance, and were surprised 
that so much zeal should be exercised to seize a venerable old 
man like this. He, however, without hesitation, ordered a table 
to be immediately prepared for the men ; then requests them to 
partake of food largely, and begged of them only one hour, that 
he might pray undisturbed. As they gave him permission, he 
arose and prayed, so full of the grace of the Lord, that those pre- 
sent who heard him were amazed, and many of them now re- 
pented, that so venerable and pious a man should be put to death. 
Beside these things, the abovementioned epistle respecting him 
pursues the narrative as follows : 

" But after he had ended praying, and had in this remembered 
all that had ever been connected with him, small and great, noble 
and obscure, and the whole catholic (universal) church through- 
out the world, when the hour come for him to go, they placed 
him upon an ass and conducted him to the city, it being a great 
Sabbath-day.* He was met by Herod, who was the irenarch,f 
and his father Mcetes ; who, taking him into their vehicle, per- 
suaded him to take a seat with them, and said, " For what harm 
is there in saying Lord Cesar, and to sacrifice, and thus save your 
life ?' He, however, did not at first make any reply ; but as they 
persevered, he said, " I shall not do what you advise me." Failing, 
therefore, to persuade him, they uttered dreadful language, and 
thrust him down from the car with great vehemence, so that as 
he descended from the car he sprained his thigh. But not at all 
moved from his purpose, as if nothing had happened, he eagerly 
went on, and was conducted to the stadium. But as there was 
so great an uproar in the place that not many could hear, a voice 
came from heaven to Polycarp as he entered the stadium : " Be 
strong, Polycarp, and contend manfully." No one saw who it 

* The great Sabbath was the feast of unleavened bread, which immediately pre- 
ceded the passover. See Beverege in Can. Apost. 

f The irenarch, as the name implies, was an officer to preserve the public peace. 

T 



146 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

was that spoke ; but the voice itself was h^ard by many of our 
brethren. When he was led forward, however, a great tumult 
arose among those that heard Polycarp was taken. At length, as 
he advanced, the proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp, 
and he answering that he was, he persuaded him to renounce 
Christ, saying, " Have a regard for your age," and adding similar 
expressions, such as is usual for them to say, he said, " Swear by 
the genius of Cesar. Repent ; say, Away with those that deny 
the gods." But Polycarp, with a countenance grave and serious, 
and contemplating the whole multitude that were collected in the 
stadium, beckoned with his hand to them, and with a sigh he 
looked up to heaven, and said, " Away with the impious." As the 
governor, however, continued to urge him, and said, " Swear, and 
I will dismiss you. Revile Christ ;" Polycarp replied, " Eighty 
and six years have 1 served him, and he never did me wrong ; 
and how can I now blaspheme my King that has saved me ?" The 
governor still continuing to urge him, and again saying, " Swear 
by the genius of Cesar," said Polycarp, " If you are so vain as to 
think that I should swear by the genius of Cesar, as you say, pre- 
tending not to know who I am, hear my free confession. I am a 
Christian. But if you wish to learn what the doctrine of Chris- 
tianity is, grant me a day and listen to me." The proconsul said, 
" Persuade the people." Polycarp replied, " I have thought pro- 
per to give you a reason ; for we have been taught to give magis- 
trates and powers appointed by God, the honour that is due to 
them, as far as it does not injure us ; but I do not consider those 
the proper ones before whom I should deliver my defence. The pro- 
consul said, " I have wild beasts at hand, I will cast you to these 
unless you change your mind." He answered, " Call them. For 
we have no reason to repent from the better to the worse, but it 
is good to change from wickedness to virtue." He again urged 
him. " I will cause you to be consumed by fire, should you de- 
spise the beasts, and not change your mind. Polycarp answered, 
" You threaten fire that burns for a moment and is soon extin- 
guished, for you know nothing of the judgment to come, and the 
fire of eternal punishment reserved for the wicked. But why do 
you delay ? Bring what you wish." Saying these, and many 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 147 

other similar declarations, he was filled with confidence and joy, 
and his countenance was brightened with grace. So that he not 
only continued undismayed at what was said to him, but on the 
contrary, the governor, astonished, sent the herald to proclaim in 
the middle of the stadium, " Polycarp confesses that he is a Chris- 
tian." When this was declared by the herald, all the multitude. 
Gentiles and Jews dwelling at Smyrna, cried out, " This is that 
teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, the destroyer of our 
gods ; he that teaches multitudes not to sacrifice, not to worship." 
Saying this, they cried out, and asked PhiHp the Asiarch,* to let 
loose a lion upon Polycarp. But he rephed, that he was not per- 
mitted, as he had already completed the exhibition of the chase 
in the amphitheatre. Then all cried out together, that Polycarp 
should be burnt alive. For it seemed necessary that the vision 
which he saw on his pillow should be fulfilled ; when seeing it on 
fire whilst he prayed, he turned to those few faithful friends with 
him, and said propiietically, " I must be burnt alive." These 
things were executed, however, with such haste that they were 
no sooner said than done. The crowd, however, forthwith col- 
lected wood and straw from the shops and baths, especially the 
Jews, as usual, freely ofiered their services for this purpose. But 
when the pile was prepared, laying aside all his clothes, and 
loosing his girdle, he attempted also to take oif his shoes, which 
he had not been in the habit of doing before, as he always had 
some one of the brethren, that were soon at his side, and rivalled 
each other in their services to him. For he had always been 
treated with great respect on account of his exemplary life even 
before his gray hairs. Presently the instruments prepared for the 
funeral pile were applied to him. As they were also on the 
point of securing him with spikes, he said, " let me be thus. For 
he that gives me strength to bear the fire, will also give me power 
without being secured by you with these spikes, to remain un- 
moved on the pile." They, therefore, did not nail him, but merely 
bound him to the stake. But he, closing his hands behind him, 



* The Asiarchs were the priests of the assembly or common council of Asia, 
whose office, among others, was to exhibit the public shows in the amphitheatre. 



148 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and bound to the stake as a noble victim selected from the great 
flock, an acceptable sacrifice to Almighty God, said : " Father of 
thy well-beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, through whom we 
have received the knowledge of thee. The God of angels and 
powers, and all creation, and of all the family of the righteous, 
that live before thee, I bless thee that thou hast* thought me 
worthy of the present day and hour, to have a share in the 
number of the martyrs and in the cup of Christ, unto the resurrec- 
tion of eternal life, both of the soul and body, in the incorruptible 
felicity of the holy Spirit. Among whom may I be received in 
thy sight, this day, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice as thou the 
faithful and true God hast prepared, hast revealed and fulfilled. 
Wherefore, on this account, and for all things I praise thee, I 
bless thee, I glorify thee, through the eternal high priest, Jesus 
Christ, thy well-beloved Son. Through whom glory be to thee 
with him in the Holy Ghost, both now and for ever. Amen." 

After. he had repeated amen, and had finished his prayer, the 
executioners kindled the fire. And when it arose in great flames, 
we saw a miracle, those of us who were privileged to see it, and 
who, therefore, were preserved to declare the facts to others. For 
the flames presented an appearance like an oven, as when the 
sail of a vessel is filled with the wind ; and thus formed a wall 
around the body of the martyr. And he was in the midst not 
like burning flesh, but like gold and silver purified in the furnace. 
We also perceived a fragrant odour, like the fumes of incense, or 
some other precious aromatic drugs. At length the wdcked per- 
secutors, seeing that the body could not be consumed by fire, 
commanded the executioner to draw near to him and to plunge 
his sword into him ; and when he had done this, such a quantity 
of blood gushed forth that the fire was extinguished. So that 
the whole multitude were astonished that such a diflerence should 
be made between the unbelievers and the elect, of whom this 
one, bishop of the catholic church in Smyrna, was the most ad- 
mirable, apostolical, and prophetical teacher of our times. For 
every word that he uttered, was either fulfilled or will yet be 
fulfilled. But that envious and malignant adversary, that wicked 
enemy of all the righteous, seeing the lustre of his martyrdom. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 149 

and his uniform walk and conversation, and him now crowned 
with the crown of immortality, and bearing off the indisputable 
prize, had provided that not even his corpse could be obtained by 
us, though many of us eagerly washed it, so as to have commu- 
nion with the sacred body. Some, therefore, secretly engaged 
Nicetas, the father of Herod and brother of Dalce, to go to the go- 
vernor, so as not to give the body, lest, said they, abandoning him 
that was crucified, they should begin to worship this one. And this 
they said on the suggestion and urging of the Jews, who were 
also watching and looking out whilst we were preparing to take 
him from the fire. Not knowing, however, that we can never 
abandon Christ, who suffered for the salvation of those that are 
becoming saved from all the world, nor even worship any other. 
For him we worship as the Son of God ; but the martyrs we de- 
servedly love as the disciples and imitators of our Lord, on ac- 
count of their exceeding love to their king and master. Of 
whom may we only become true associates and fellow-disciples. 
The centurion then seeing the obstinacy of the Jew^s, placed him 
in the middle, and burnt it according to the custom of the Gen- 
tiles. Thus, at last, taking up his bones, more valuable than 
precious stones, and more tried than gold, we deposited them 
where it was proper they should be. There, also, as far as v>^e can, 
the Lord will grant us to collect and celebrate the natal day* of 
his martyrdom in joy and gladness, both in commemoration of 
those who finished their contest before, and to exercise and pre- 
pare those that shall hereafter." Such is the account respecting 
the blessed Polycarp, who, together with the twelve from Phila- 
delphia, was crowned a martyr. Who, however, is rather men- 
tioned alone by all, so that he is spoken of by the Gentiles in 
every place. Of such an end, then, was the admirable and 
apostolic Polycarp deemed worthy, accordmg to the account 
which the brethren in Smyrna recorded in the epistle that we 
have quoted. In this same epistle, also, respecting him, othei 
martyrdoms are also recorded, which took place in the same city, 



* The martyrdom of Polycai-p is here called his natal day, as his birthday for 
a better world. 



150 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and about the time of Polycarp's death. Among these, also, was 
Metrodorus, a follower of Marcion's error, but who appears to 
have been a presbyter, and who was committed to the flames. 
A very celebrated martyr of those times was Pionius. Those 
who feel inclined to know respecting him, we refer to that epistle 
that has been imbodied in the work on the ancient martyrs col- 
lected by us, in which is given a very full account of his parti- 
cular confessions, of the freedom with which he spoke, of his 
defence of the faith before the people and rulers. Also his in- 
structive exhortations; moreover his strong invitations to those 
that fell away imder the temptation of persecution, the consola- 
tions which he presented to the brethren that came in to him in 
prison, what excruciating tortures he also endured besides, when 
he was secured with spikes, his firmness on the pile, and after all 
his extraordinary sufferings, his death. There are, also, records 
extant of others that suffered martyrdom in Pergamus, a city of 
Asia. Of these we mention only Carpus and Papylus, and a 
woman named Agathonice ; who, after many and illustrious testi- 
monies given by them, gloriously finished their course. 



CHAPTER XVL 



How Justin, the philosopher, suffered martyrdom, asserting the 
doctrine of Christ. 

About this time, the same Justin who was mentioned by us a 
little before, after having given a second defence of our doc- 
trines to the abovementioned rulers, was crowned with divine 
martyrdom, at the insidious instigation of Crescens the philoso- 
pher, who was called a cynic, and emulated the life and manner 
indicated by the name he bore. After having frequently refuted 
him in discussion, in the presence of many hearers, he at length 
also bore away the palm of victory, in the truth which he assert- 
ed, by his own martyrdom. It is also plainly stated by the same 
excellent and most learned author, in the Apology already quoted, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 151 

that he predicted the issue just as it was about to happen in re- 
ference to himself, in the following words ; " I also expect to be 
waylaid by some, one of those whom I have named, and to be put 
to the rack, even by Crescens himself, that unphilosophical, and 
vainglorious opponent. For it seems not proper to call a man a 
philosopher, since he publicly attempts to contend against mat- 
ters that he does not understand, as if Christians were infidels and 
wicked characters, merely for the purpose of captivating and grati- 
fying the multitude. He has done all this under a strong delu- 
sion. For if he counteracts us without having read the doctrines 
of Christ, he is most iniquitous in his conduct, and much worse 
than common men, who for the most part are cautious in speak- 
ing and bearing a false testimony in matters that they do not un- 
derstand ; and if when happening to read, he does not under- 
stand the sublimity in them, or if understanding, he does those 
things that may lead one to suspect he is not one of them, (i. e.) no 
Christian, he is so much the more base and nefarious, inasmuch 
as he is enslaved to vulgar applause and an absurd fear. And, 
indeed, when I proposed certain questions to him, in order to as- 
certain and convince him that he really was ignorant, I would 
beg leave to inform you, that I found this to be the case. And 
that you may know all that I here say is true, if these discussions 
have not yet reached you, I am prepared to repeat these interro- 
gations in your presence. This, too, would be a work suited to 
your majesties. But if these questions of mine, and his answers 
are known to you, it is obvious to you, that he knows nothing of 
our doctrines, or if he knows, he does not declare them on ac- 
count of his hearers ; so that, as I before said, he proves himself 
to be not a true lover of wisdom, a philosopher, but a lover of 
vainglory. He, indeed, does not even regard that excellent say- 
ing of Socrates, viz. " that no one is to be preferred to truth :" 
Thus far Justin. But that in consequence of his freedom against 
Crescens, he was brought to his end, is shown by Tatian, a man 
who at first, as a sopliist, taught the various branches of litera- 
ture among the Greeks, and obtained no small celebrity in them, 
and who left numerous monuments of his attainments in his 
works. This he relates in the book against the Greeks, thus : 



152 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

" And that most excellent Justin, justly declared that the afore- 
said persons were like robbers." Then after some comments on 
these philosophers, he adds the following : " Crescens indeed, 
who had nestled in the great city (Rome,) surpassed all in his 
unnatural lust (jtaiSEpagia) and was also wholly enslaved to the 
love of money. And he who advised others to despise death, was 
himself so much in dread of death, that he plotted death for Jus- 
tin as a very great evil. Because that when proclaiming the 
truth, he proved the philosophers gluttons and impostors." And 
such was the cause that produced the martyrdom of Justin. 



II 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

The martyrs mentioned by Justin in his books. 

But the same author before his conflict makes mention of 
others that suffered martyrdom before him, in his first Apology. 
In which he aptly introduces the following statement : " A certain 
woman," says he, " had a husband that was intemperate. She 
herself, had also previously led a dissolute life ; but after she 
was made acquainted with the doctrines of Christ, she became 
modest, and endeavoured to persuade her husband also to lead 
a virtuous life, presenting to his mind the doctrines of Christi- 
anity, and the punishment of eternal fire awaited those that would 
not live virtuously, and according to right reason. But he still 
continuing in the same lascivious habits, wholly alienated his 
wife's affections by his practices. Finally, the woman consi- 
dering it wicked to live with one who, contrary to the law of na- 
ture and propriety, was intent upon every course to gratify his 
lusts, contemplated a divorce. But when she was encouraged 
by her friends, who advised her still to remain with him, as if 
he might give hopes of a change of life, she did violence to her- 
self and remained. Afterwards, however, her husband, who had 
gone to Alexandria, was reported to be acting much worse. 
Fearing, therefore, lest she should become a sharer in his un- 
righteousness and impieties, if she continued United to him, and 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 153 

should be his companion, she sent him what is called the bill 
of divorce, and was separated. This good and excellent hus- 
band, however, who ought to have rejoiced that his wife, who 
had formerly dehghted in debauchery and all manner of vice, 
had now ceased from those deeds in which she had formerly 
been wantonly engaged with servants and hirelings, and that she 
now wished him, also, to cease from doing ' the same things, 
would not do thus, when she left him, but he brought an accu- 
sation against her, asserting that she was a Christian. And she 
delivered to you, the emperor, a petition, requesting that she 
might first be permitted to regulate her domestic affairs, and then, 
after the regulation of her affairs, she would make her defence 
in reference to the accusation. And this you granted. But he, 
who had formerly been the husband of the woman, not being able 
to say anything against her now, turned upon a certain Ptolemy, 
whom Urbicius had punished, and who had become her instructer 
in the principles of Christianity, in the following manner. 

He had persuaded the centurion to seize Ptolemy his friend, 
and cast him in prison, and to ask him only this, whether he was 
a Christian ? Ptolemy, who was a lover of truth, and averse to 
all deceit and falsehood, confessed himself a Christian ; in conse- 
quence of which, he was cast into prison, and punished by the 
centurion in this way for a long time. At last, when the man 
came before Urbicius in like matter, only this one thing was 
asked, whether he was a Christian ? And as he was conscious 
of deriving every happiness and blessing from the doctrine of 
Christ, he again professed the principles of celestial virtue. — 
For he that denies that he is a Christian, either denies, be- 
cause he despises, or because he is conscious that he is unworthy 
of this religion, and a stranger to its excellency ; and thus avoids 
the confession. Neither of these things can apply to the true 
Christian. Urbicius, however, having commanded him to be 
led forth, a certain Lucius, who was also a Christian, seeing the 
judgment so unjustly passed, says to Urbicius, " What charge is 
this, that you should punish one who is neither an adulterer, nor 
fornicator, nor a murderer, nor a thief, nor a robber ; nor con- 
victed, indeed, of anv crime, but simply confessing the name of 

U 



154 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

a Christian 1 O, Urbicius, you do not judge what becomes our 
pious emperor, nor the philosophic son of Cesar, nor the sacred 
senate." But without any other reply, he said to Lucius, " Thou 
appearest also to be one such as these," and as Lucius answered 
" by all means," he in like manner commanded him to be led 
forth. But he, (Lucius,) said, he thanked him ; " for now," he 
added, " he was liberated from wicked masters, and was going 
to the good Father and king, even God. And a second and 
third coming up, were punished in the same way." To these 
Justin, next in order, adds the passages that we quoted above, 
where he says : " But I am now waiting to be waylaid by a 
certain one of those called philosophers," &c. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The books of Justin that have come down to us. 

This Justin has left us many monuments of a mind well stored 
with learning, and devoted to sacred things, replete with matter 
profitable in every respect. To these we shall refer our studi- 
ous readers, only indicating as we proceed, those that have come 
to our knowledge. There is a discourse of his, addressed to 
Antonine, surnamed the Pious, and his sons and the Roman se- 
nate, in defence of our doctrines. Another work, comprising a 
defence of our faith, which he addressed to the emperor of the 
same name, Antoninus Verus, the successor of the preceding, the 
circumstances of whose times we are now recording. Also, ano- 
ther book, against the Greeks, in which, dilating upon most of the 
questions agitated between us and the Greek philosophers, he 
also discusses the nature of daemons ; of which it is not necessary 
to add anything here. There is also another work, that has 
reached us, also against the Gentiles, to which he gave the title, 
" Refutation.^'' Besides these, also another, " On the Sovereignty 
of God,'^ which he establishes not only by the holy Scriptures, 
but also by references to the works of the Greeks. Moreover, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 155 

he wrote a work called Psaltes, (the psalmist,) another, also con- 
sisting of Remarks on the Soul, in which, after proposing vari- 
ous questions on the subject, he adds the opinions that prevailed 
among the Greek philosophers, which he also promises to dis- 
prove, and to give his own opinion in a separate work. He also 
wrote a dialogue against the Jews, which he held at Ephesus 
with Tryphon, the most distinguished among the Hebrews of the 
day. In this he shows how the Divine grace stimulated him to 
this discourse on the faith, what zeal also he had before evinced 
in the studies of philosophy, and what indefatigable research he 
had applied in the discovery of the truth. In this also he states 
respecting the Jews, how insidiously they plotted against the doc- 
trine of Christ, and addresses the following words to Tryphon : 
" But you do not only continue impenitent for your evil deeds, 
but selecting chosen men, you sent them from Jerusalem to all 
the world, declaring that the infidel sect of Christians had made 
its appearance, and uttering all those falsehoods against us which 
those that know us not are accustomed to repeat. Thus you are 
the causes of iniquity not only to yourselves but to all others 
also." He writes also, that even down to his time, gifts of pro- 
phecy shone forth in the church ; mentions also, the Revelation 
of John, plainly calling it the work of the apostle, and records 
also, certain prophetic declarations, in his discussion with Try- 
phon, and showing that the Jews had expunged them from the 
Scriptures. There are, also many other works of his in the 
hands of many of our brethren. So valuable and worthy of 
study were these works esteemed by the ancients, that Irenaeus 
quotes him often. This he does in the fourth book against 
heresies, adding the words: "And well does Justin, in his 
work against Marcion, say : * I would not even believe the Lord 
himself, if he were to announce any other God but the Creator.' " 
And in the fifth book, he says : " And well did Justin say, that be- 
fore the appearance of our Lord, Satan never ventured to blas- 
pheme God, because he did not yet know his own condemnation." 
These we deemed necessary to state, in order to stimulate the 
studious likewise to the diligent perusal of these books. And 
thus much respecting Justin. 



156 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



Those that presided over the churches of Rome and Alexandria, 
in the reign of Verus, 

It was in the eighth year of the ahovementioned reign, viz., 
that of Verus, that Anicetus, who had held the episcopate of 
Rome for eleven years, was succeeded by Soter ; but at Alexan- 
dria, Celadion, who had presided over the church fourteen years, 
was succeeded by Agrippinus. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The bishops of Antioch. 



At this time, also, Theophilus in the church of Antioch, was 
well known as the sixth in succession from the apostles. As 
Cornelius, who succeeded Heron, had been the fourth of those 
that presided there, and after him Eros, the fifth in order that 
held the episcopate. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

The ecclesiastical luriters that flourished in these times. 

About this time flourished Hegesippus, whom we quoted above. 
Also Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and Pinytus, bishop of Crete. 
Moreover, Philip and Apollinaris and Melito. Musanus, also, 
and Modestus, and, lastly, Irenasus, whose correct views of the 
sound faith have descended to us in the works written by them, 
as they received it from apostohc tradition. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 157 

CHAPTER XXIL 

Of HegesippTis, and those whom he mentions. 

Hegesippus, indeed, in the five books of commentaries that have 
come down to us, has left a most complete record of his ov^n 
views. In these he states that he conversed with most of the 
bishops when he travelled to Rome, and that he received the 
same doctrine from all. We may also add what he says, after 
some observations on the Epistle of Qement to the Corinthians : 
" And the church of Corinth," says he, " continued in the true 
faith, until Primus was bishop there. With whom I had familiar 
conversation (as I passed many days at Corinth,) when I was 
on the point of sailing to Rome, during which time also, we were 
mutually refreshed in the true doctrine. After coming to Rome, 
I made my stay wdth Anicetus, whose deacon was Eleutherus. 
After Anicetus, Soter succeeded, and after him Eleutherus. In 
every succession, however, and in every city, the doctrine prevails 
according to what is declared by the law and the prophets and the 
Lord." The same author, also, treats of the beginnings of the here- 
sies that arose about his time, in the following words : " But after 
James the Just had suffered martyrdom, as our Lord had for the 
same reason, Simeon, the son of Cleophas our Lord's uncle, was 
appointed the second bishop, whom all proposed, as the cousin of 
our Lord. Hence they called the church as yet a virgin, for it was 
not yet corrupted by vain discourses. Thebuthis made a begin- 
ning secretly to corrupt it, on account of his not being made 
bishop. He was one of those seven sects among the Jewish peo- 
ple. Of these, also, was Simeon, whence sprung the sect of Si- 
monians ; also, Cleobius, from whom came the Cleobians ; also, 
Dositheus, the founder of the Dositheans. From these also 
sprung the Gorthoeonians, from Gorthoeus, and the Masbothoeans, 
from Masbotheus. Hence, also, the Menandrians, and Marcion- 
ists, and Carpocratians, and Valentinians, and Basilidians, and 
the Saturnilians, every one introducing his own peculiar opinions, 
one differing from the other. From these sprung the false Christs 



158 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and false prophets and false apostles, who divided the unity of the 
church, by the introduction of corrupt doctrines against God and 
against his Christ." The same author also mentions in his histo- 
ry, the ancient heresies prevalent among the Jev^s, as foUovs^s ; 
" There w^ere also, different opinions in the circumcision among 
the children of Israel, against the tribe of Judah and the Mes- 
siah, viz., the Essenes, the Galileans, Hemerobaptists, the Mas- 
bothoeans, the Samaritans, the Sadducees and Pharisees." He also 
speaks of many other matters, which we have in part already 
quoted, and introduced in their appropriate places. He also 
states some particulars from the gospel of the Hebrews and from 
the Syriac, and particularly from the Hebrew language, showing 
that he himself was a convert from the Hebrews. Other matters 
he also records as taken from the unwritten tradition of the 
Jews. And not only he, but Irenaeus also, and the whole body 
of the ancients, called the Proverbs of Solomon, "Wisdom, 
comprehending every virtue." Also in discoursing on the books 
called Apocrypha, he relates that some of them were forged in 
his day, by some of the heretics. But it is now time to proceed 
to another. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

Of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, and his epistles. 

And first we must s|)eak of Dionysius, who was appointed 
over the church at Corinth, and imparted freely, not only to his 
own people, but to others abroad also, the blessings of his divine 
labours. But he was most useful to all in the catholic epistles 
that he addressed to the churches. One of which is addressed 
to the Lacedaemonians, and contains instructions in the true re- 
ligion, and inculcates peace and unity. One also to the Atheni- 
ans, exciting them to the faith, and the life prescribed by the 
gospel, from which he shows that they had swerved, so that they 
had nearly fallen from the truth, since the martyrdom of Publius, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 159 

then bishop, which happened in the persecutions of those times. 
He also makes mention of Quadratus, who was bishop after the 
martyrdom of Pubhus, bearing witness also that the church was 
again collected, and the faith of the people revived by his exer- 
tions. He states, moreover, that Dionysius the Areopagite, who 
was converted to the faith by Paul the apostle, according to the 
statement in the Acts of the Apostles, first obtained the episcopate 
of the church at Athens. There is also another epistle of his ex- 
tant, addressed to the Nicomedians, in which he refutes the he- 
resy of Marcion and adheres closely to the rule of faith. In an 
epistle to the church of Gortyna, and to the other churches in 
Crete, he commends their bishop Philip, for the numerous in- 
stances of fortitude that the church evinced under him, according 
to the testimony of all, whilst he cautions them against the per- 
versions of the heretics. He also wrote to the church at Amas- 
tris, together with those at Pontus, in which he makes mention 
of BacchyHdes and Elpistus, as those who urged him to write. He 
also adds some expositions of the sacred writings, where he in- 
timates that Palmas was then bishop. He also recommends many 
things in regard to marriage, and the purity to be observed by 
those who enter this state, and enjoins upon the church to re- 
ceive again kindly all that return again from any fall ; whether 
of heresy or delinquency. Among them is also inserted an epistle 
to the Gnossians, in which he admonishes Pinytus, the bishop of 
the church, not to impose upon the brethren without necessity, a 
burden in regard to purity too great to be borne, but to pay regard 
to the infirmity of the great mass. To which Pinytus, writing 
in reply, admires and applauds Dionysius, but exhorts him at the 
same time to impart some time or other stronger food, and to 
feed the people under him with writings abounding in more per- 
fect doctrine when he wrote again, so that they might not re- 
main constantly nurtured with milky doctrine, and impercepti- 
bly grow old, under a discipline calculated only for children. In 
which epistle, also, the correct views which Pinytus cherished, 
and his solicitude respecting the welfare of those that were com- 
mitted to his care, also his learning and intelligence in divine mat- 
ters is exhibited as in a most perfect image. There is yet another 



160 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

epistle ascribed to Dionysius, to the Romans, and addressed to 
Soter the bishop of that city, from which we may also subjoin 
some extracts, viz., from that part where he commends a practice 
of the Romans retained even to the persecution in our day, and 
writes as follows: "For this practice has prevailed with you 
from the very beginning, to do good to all the brethren in every 
way, and to send contributions to many churches in every city. 
Thus refreshing the needy in their want, and furnishing to the 
brethren condemned to the mines, what was necessary, by these 
contributions which ye have been accustomed to send from the be- 
ginning, you preserve, as Romans, the practices of your ancestors 
the Romans. Which was not only observed by your bishop Soter, 
but also increased, as he not only furnished great supplies to the 
saints, but also encouraged the brethren that came from abroad, 
as a loving father his children, with consolatory words." In this 
same letter he mentions that of Clement to the Corinthians, show- 
ing that it was the practice to read it in the churches, even from 
the earliest times. "To-day," says he, "we have passed the 
Lord's holy day, in which we have read your epistle. In read- 
ing which we shall always have our minds stored with admoni- 
tion, as we shall, also, from that written to us before by Cle- 
ment." Besides this, the same author writes respecting his own 
epistles as having been corrupted : " As the brethren," says he, 
" desired me to write epistles, I wrote them, and these the apos- 
tles of the devil have filled with tares, exchanging some things, 
and adding others, for whom there is a wo reserved. It is not, 
therefore, matter of wonder, if some have also attempted to adul- 
terate the sacred writings of the Lord, since they have attempted 
the same in other works that are not to be compared with these." 
There is also another epistle attributed to this Dionysius, address- 
ed to his most faithful sister Chrysophora, in which he writes 
what was suitable to her, and imparts also to her the proper 
spiritual food. And thus much respecting Dionysius. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 161 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Of Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, 

There are three books containing the elements of the faith, 
addressed to Autolycus, which are ascribed to Theophilus, whom 
we have mentioned as bishop of Antioch. Another, also, which 
has the title, " Against the heresy of Hermogenis ;" in which he 
makes use of testimony from the Revelation of John, besides cer- 
tain other catechetical works. And as the heretics, no less then, 
than at any other time, were hke tares destroying the pure seed 
of the apostoHcal doctrines, the pastors of the churches every 
where hastened to restrain them as wild beasts from the fold of 
Christ. Sometimes they did it by their exhortations and admo- 
nitions to the brethren, sometimes more openly contending with 
the heretics themselves, by oral discussions and refutations, and 
then again confuting their opinions, by the most rigid proofs in 
their written works. 

Theophilus, therefore, with others, also contended against these, 
as is manifest from a work of no mean character, written by him 
against Marcion, which, together with others that we have men- 
tioned, is still preserved. He was succeeded by Maximinus, the 
seventh from the apostles in the church of Antioch. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

Of Philip and Modestus, 

Philip, also, who we have seen from the words of Dionysius, 
was bishop of the church at Gortyna, has written a very elabo- 
rate work against Marcion. Irenseus, also, and Modestus, the last 
of whom beyond all others, has detected the error of the man, 
and exposed it to the view of all. Many others have also writ- 
ten, whose labours are carefully preserved by the brethren even 
to this day. 

X 



162 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXVL 

Of Meliio, and the circumstances he records. 

In these times, also flourished MeHto, bishop of the church in 
Sardis, and ApolKnaris, the bishop of HierapoHs. Each of these 
separately addressed discourses as apologies for the faith, to the 
existing emperor of the Romans, already mentioned. Of these, 
those that follow below, are those that have come to our know- 
ledge. Of Melito, two works On the Passover, and those. On the 
Conduct of Life, and the Prophets. One, On the Church, and ano- 
ther discourse. On the Lord^s-day, One, also. On the Nature of 
Man, and another On his Formation. A work On the Subjection 
of the Senses to Faith. Besides these, a treatise On the Soul, the 
Body, and the Mind. A dissertation also. On Baptism ; one also, 
on Truth, and Faith, and the Generation of Christ. His discourse 
On Prophecy, and that On Hospitality. A treatise called The Key, 
his works On the Devil, and The Revelation of John. The treatise 
On the Incarnate God. And last of all, the discourse addressed 
to Antonine. In the work on the passover, he shows the time 
in which he wrote it, beginning with these w^ords : " When Ser- 
vilius Paulus was proconsul of Asia, says he, at which time Sa- 
garis suffered martyrdom, there was much discussion in Laodi- 
cea, respecting the passover, which occurred at that time in its 
proper season, and in which, also, these works were written." 
This work is also mentioned by Clement of Alexandria, in his 
own work on the passover, which, he says, he wrote on occasion 
of Melito's work. But in the book addressed to the emperor, he 
relates the following transactions against those of our faith, under 
this emperor. " What, indeed, says he, never before happened, 
the race of the pious is now persecuted, driven about in Asia, by 
new and strange decrees. For the shameless informers, and 
those that crave the property of others, taking occasion from the 
edicts of the emperors, openly perpetrate robbery ; night and day 
plundering those who are guilty of no crime." And afterwards 
he says, " and if these things are done by your orders let them be 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 163 

done at least in a proper way. For a just ruler should never 
form unjust decrees. We, indeed, cheerfully bear the reward of 
such a death, but we only urge upon you this request, that you 
yourself would first take cognisance of these plotters of mischief, 
and justly judge, whether they deserve death and punishment, or 
safety and security. But if this decree, and this unheard of or- 
dinance, which ought not be tolerated even against barbarous 
enemies, have not proceeded from you, so much the more do we 
entreat you not to overlook us in the midst of this lawless plun- 
der of the populace." After a few other remarks, he adds, " The 
philosophy which we profess, first mdeed, flourished among the 
barbarians, but afterwards, when it grew up, also among the na- 
tions under your government ; under the glorious reign of Augus- 
tus your ancestor, it became, especially to your reign, an auspi- 
cious blessing. For since that time, the Roman power has grown 
in greatness and splendour. Whose desired successor you have 
become, and will be, together with your son, if you preserve that 
philosophy which has been nurtured with the empire, which com- 
menced its existence with Augustus, and which also your ances- 
tors did honour, with other religions ; and one of the greatest 
evidences, that our doctrine flourished, to the advantage of a 
reign so happily begun, is this : that there has nothing disastrous 
occurred to the empire, since the reign of Augustus ; on the con- 
trary, all things have proceeded splendidly and gloriously accord- 
ing to the wishes of all. Nero, and Domitian, alone, stimulated 
by certain malicious persons, showed a disposition to slander our 
faith. From whom it has happened, also, that this falsehood re- 
specting Christians has been propagated by an absurd practice of 
waylaying and informing. But your pious fathers corrected what 
was done by the ignorance of those, by frequently reproving many 
in writing, as many as dared to attempt any innovations against 
those of our religion. Your grandfather Adrian, evidently wrote, 
among others, to Fundanus the proconsul of Asia. But your 
father, also, when you held the government with him, wrote to 
the cities, forbidding any strange movements against us. Among 
these were the ordinances to the Larissseans, to the Thessaloni- 
ans, and Athenians, and all the Greeks. But as you cherish the 



164 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

same opinion on these matters with those, and, indeed, have still 
more benevolent and more philosophical views, we are so much 
the more confident you will do what we entreat." This passage 
is given in the discourse beforementioned. But in the selections 
made by him, the same writer in the beginning of his preface, 
gives a catalogue of the books of the Old Testament acknow- 
ledged as canonical. This we have thought necessary to give 
here, literally as follows : 

" Melito sends, greeting, to his brother Onesimus, as you have 
frequently desired in your zeal for the Scriptures, that I should 
make selections for you, both from the law and the prophets., 
respecting our Saviour, and our whole faith; and you were, 
moreover, desirous of having an exact statement of the Old 
Testament, how many in number, and in what order the books 
were written, I have endeavoured to perform this. For I 
know your zeal in the faith, and your great desire to acquire 
knowledge, and that especially by the love of God, you prefer 
these matters to all others, thus striving to gain eternal life. 
When, therefore, I went to the east, and came as far as the 
place where these things were proclaimed and done, I ac- 
curately ascertained the books of the Old Testament, and 
send them to thee here below. The names are as follows : Of 
Moses, five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deutero- 
nomy. Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth. Four of Kings. Two of Pa- 
ralipomena, (Chronicles,) Psalms of David, Proverbs of Solomon, 
which is also called Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job. 
Of prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Of the twelve prophets, one 
book. Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From these I have, therefore, 
made the selections which I have divided into six books." Thus 
much of Melito's writings. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 165 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

OfApoIIinaris bishop of Hierapolis. 

Although there are many works of Apollinaris preserved by- 
many, those that have reached us are the following : An Apo- 
logy, addressed to the abov^mentioned emperor, and jive books 
against the Greeks. Two books on Truth, tioo also against the Jeivs, 
and those that he afterwards wrote against the Heresy of the 
Phrygians, which was revived not long after. Then, indeed, 
also began as it were to spring up, the sect of Montanus, who, 
with his false prophetesses, laid the foundation of their errors. 
Thus much, however, may suffice, also, concerning this author. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

Of Musanus and his works. 



MusANus, also, whom we have mentioned among the foregoing 
authors, is said to have written a very elegant work addressed to 
certain brethren, who had swerved from the truth to the heresy 
of the Encratites, which had even then made its appearance, and 
which introduced a singular and pernicious error into the world. 
The founder of this singularity is said to have been Tatianus. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

The heresy of Tatianus. 



He is the same whose words we adduced before in re- 
ference to the excellent Justin, mentioning that he was also the 
disciple of that martyr. This is shown by Irenaeus, in the first 
book against heresies, where he writes both respecting the man 
and against his heresy : " Those," says he, " that sprung from Sa- 



166 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

turninus and Marcion, called the Encratites, proclaimed absti- 
nence from marriage, setting aside the original design of God, 
and tacitly censuring him that made male and female for the 
propagation of the human race. They also introduced the ab- 
stinence from things called animate with them, displaying in- 
gratitude to God who made all things. They also deny the sal- 
vation of our first parents. And this has been but lately discovered 
by them, a certain Tatian being the first that taught the horrible 
doctrine. This man, who had been a hearer of Justin, as long 
as he was in company with him, exhibited nothing like this, but 
after his martyrdom, having apostatized from the church, and 
elated with the conceit of a teacher, and vainly puffed up as if 
he surpassed all others, he established a peculiar characteristic 
of his own doctrine, by inventing certain invisible JEons, similar 
to those of Valentinus. Marriage, also, he asserted, with Marcion 
and Saturninus, was only corruption and fornication. And he 
also devised arguments of his own against the salvation of Adam." 
Thus far Irenasus then. A little after, however, a certain man 
by the name of Severus, having strengthened the abovemention- 
ed heresy, became the cause of another sect, called after himself, 
the Severians. These indeed, make use of the law and prophets 
and gospels, giving a peculiar interpretation to the passages of 
the sacred writings, but abuse Paul the apostle, and set aside his 
epistles ; neither do they receive the Acts of the Apostles. But 
their chief and founder Tatianus, having formed a certain body 
and collection of gospels, I know not how, has given this the title, 
Diatessaron, that is the gospel by the four, or the gospel formed 
of the four ; which is in the possession of some even now. It 
is also said that he dared to alter certain expressions of the apos- 
tles, in order to correct the composition of the phrase. He has 
also left a great multitude of writings, of which the most noted 
among all, is that work against the Greeks, in which, as he re- 
cords ancient times, he proves Moses and the prophets are more 
ancient than all the celebrated writers among the Greeks. This 
book, indeed, appears to be the most elegant and profitable of all 
his works. And so much for these. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 167 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Of BardesaneSf the SyriaUt and the works of Ms extant 

Under the same reign, also, as heresies abounded in the country 
between the rivers (Mesopotamia,) lived one Bardesanes; a man 
of very great abilities, and a pov^erful disputant in the Syriac 
tongue. This man composed dialogues against Marcion and 
certain others of different opinions, and committed them to writ- 
ing in his native language, together wdth many other works. 
These were translated from the Syriac into the Greek, by his 
friends ; for as a powerful assertor of the word, he had many 
followers. Among these there is a most able dialogue On Fate, 
addressed to Antonine. Many others also, he is said to have 
written on occasion of the persecution which then arose. He was 
at first indeed a disciple of Valentine, but afterwards, rejecting 
his doctrine, and having refuted most of his fictions, he appeared 
somehow to himself to have returned again to the more correct 
opinion. But he did not entirely wipe away the filth of his old 
heresy. About this time, also, died Soter, bishop of the church 
at Rome. 



BOOK V. 



PRELIMINARY 



SoTER, bishop of Rome, died, after having held the episcopate 
eight years. He was succeeded by Eleutherus the twelfth in order 
from the apostles. It was also the seventeenth year of the reign 
of the emperor Antoninus Verus, when a more violent persecution 
having broken out against our brethren, in certain parts, occa- 
sioned by insurrections in the cities, it is probable that innume- 
rable martyrs obtained the crown of eminence in the conflict, from 
the events that happened in a single nation. These, as worthy of 
imperishable remembrance, were also handed down to posterity in 
historical records. The full account of these is given in our history 
of martyrs, comprising not only historical narrative, but that which 
may contribute to edification. But whatsoever may have a re- 
ference to our present purpose, I shall here select for the present. 
Others, indeed, that compose historical narratives, would record 
nothing but victories in battle, the trophies of enemies, the war- 
like achievements of generals, the bravery of soldiers, sullied 
with blood and innumerable murders, for the sake of children 
and country and property. But our narrative embraces that 
conversation and conduct which is acceptable to God. The wars 
and conflicts of a most pacific character, whose ultimate tendency 
is to establish the peace of the soul. Those, also, that have man- 
fully contended for the truth, rather than for their country, and 
who have struggled for piety rather than their dearest friends. 
Such as these our narrative would engrave on imperishable 
monuments. The firmness of the champions for the true religion, 
their fortitude in the endurance of innumerable trials, their tro- 
phies erected over daemoniacal agency, and their victories over 
their invisible antagonists, and the crovims that have been placed 
upon all these, it would proclaim and perpetuate by an everlast- 



ing remembrance. 



168 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 169 



CHAPTER L 



The number and suffenngs of those that suffered for the faith in 

Gaul. 

Gaul was the place where the arena was prepared for the 
abovementioned conflict. Of these the two distinguished capi- 
tals are celebrated as surpassing all the rest, viz., Lyons and 
Vienna. Through both of these the river Rhone passes, travers- 
ing the w^hole region with a mighty stream. The account, how- 
ever, of the martyrs, was sent by the most illustrious churches 
there, to those of Asia and Phrygia, by whom the events that 
took place among them, are related in the following manner — I 
will subjoin their own declarations : " The servants of Clirist 
dwelling at Lyons and Vienna, in Gaul, to those brethren in Asia 
and Phrygia, having the same faith and hope with us, peace and 
grace and glory from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord." 
Then, premising some other matters, they commence their subject 
in the following words : 

" The greatness, indeed, of the tribulation, and the extent of 
the madness exhibited by the heathen against the saints, and the 
sufferings which the martyrs endured in this country, we are not 
able fully to declare, nor is it, indeed, possible to describe them. 
For the adversary assailed us with his whole strength, giving us 
already a prelude, how unbridled his future movements among us 
would be. And, indeed, he resorted to every means, to accus- 
tom and exercise his own servants against those of God, so that 
we should not only be excluded from houses, and baths, and mar- 
kets, but every thing belonging to us was prohibited from appear- 
ing in any place whatever. But the grace of God contended for 
us, and rescued the weak, and prepared those who, like firm pil- 
lars, were able through patience, to sustain the whole weight of 
the enemy's violence against them. These coming in close con- 
flict, endured every species of reproach and torture. Esteeming 
what was deemed great, but little, they hastened to Christ, show- 
ing in reality, " that the sufferings of this time are not worthv to 

Y 



170 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." And 
first, they nobly sustained all the evils that were heaped upon 
them by the populace, clamours, and blows, plundering and rob- 
beries, stonings and imprisonments, and whatsoever a savage 
people delight to inflict upon enemies. After this they were 
led to the forum, and when interrogated by the tribune, and 
the authorities of the city, in the presence of the multitude, 
they were shut up in prison until the arrival of the governor. 
Afterwards, they were led away to be judged by him, from 
whom we endured all manner of cruelty. Vettius Epagathus, 
one of the brethren, who abounded in the fulness of the love 
of God and man, and whose walk and conversation had been 
so unexceptionable though he was only young, shared in the 
same testimony with the elder Zacharias. He had walked, 
therefore, in all the commandments and righteousness of the Lord 
blameless, and with alacrity in kind offices to man, abounding in 
zeal for God, and fervent in spirit. As he was of this high cha- 
racter, he could not bear to see a judgment so unjustly passed 
against us, but gave vent to his indignation, and requested also, 
that he should be heard in defence of his brethren, whilst he 
ventured to assert that there was nothing either at variance with 
rehgion or piety among us. At this, those around the tribunal 
cried out against him, for he was a man of eminent standing. 
Nor did the governor allow a request so just and so properly 
made, but only asked whether he also were a Christian ? He 
confessed in as clear a voice as possible, and he, too, was trans- 
ferred to the number of martyrs, being publicly called the advo- 
cate of the Christians. But he had the paraclete, (advocate,) 
within him, viz., the spirit more abundant than Zacharias, which, 
indeed, he displayed by the fulness of his love ; glorying in the 
defence of his brethren, and to expose his own life for theirs. He 
was, indeed, a genuine disciple of Christ, following the Lamb 
whithersoever he would go. After this, the others were also set 
apart, and the first martyrs endured their sufferings with prompt- 
ness and alacrity, most cheerfully finishing the confession of 
martyrdom. They appeared, indeed, unprepared and inexpe- 
rienced, and yet so weak as to be incapable of bearing the in- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 171 

tensity of the mighty contest. Of these, indeed, about ten also 
fell away, causing great sorrow and excessive grief to our bre- 
thren, and damping the ardour of those who had not yet been 
taken. These, however, although they endured all manner of 
affliction, nevertheless were always present with the martyrs, and 
never left them. Then, indeed, we were all struck with great 
fear, on account of the uncertainty of their holding out in the 
profession, not indeed dreading the tortures inflicted, but looking 
at the end, and trembling lest they should apostatize. Those, 
indeed, that were worthy to fill up the number of the martyrs, 
were seized from day to day, so that all the zealous members of 
the two churches, and those by whose exertions the church had 
been there established, were collected. Some domestics that 
were heathen, belonging to our brethren, were also seized as the 
governor had pubHcly commanded search to be made for all of 
us. But these, at the instigation of Satan, fearing the tortures 
which they saw the saints suffering, and the soldiers beside this 
urging them, charged us with feasts of Thyestes,* and the incests 
of Oedipus,f and such crimes as are neither lawful for us to speak 
nor to think ; and, such, indeed, as we do not even beheve were 
committed by men. These things being spread abroad among 
the people, all were so savage in their treatment of us, that, if 
before some had restrained themselves on account of some 
affinity, they then carried their cruelty and rage against us to a 
great excess. Then was fulfilled the declaration of our Lord, 
" that the day would come when every one that slayeth you will 
think he is doing God a service." The holy martyrs, after this, 
finally endured tortures, beyond all description ; Satan striving 
with all his power, that some blasphemy might be uttered by 
them. Most violently did the collective madness of the mob, the 
governor and the soldiers rage against the holy deacon of Vienna, 
and against Maturus, a new convert, indeed, but a noble cham- • 
pion of the faith. Also, against Attalus, a native of Pergamus, 
who was a pillar and foundation of the chiu-ch there. Against 

* Thyestes, according to the heathen mythology, ate part of his own son, whom 
his brother Atreus, to revenge the crime committed against himself, had slain. 
f Oedipus, in ignorance, slew his father Laius, and married his mother Jocasta. 



172 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Blandina, also, in whom Christ made manifest, that the things 
that appear mean and deformed and contemptible among men, 
are esteemed of great glory with God, on account of love to him, 
which is really and powerfully displayed, and glories not in mere 
appearance. For whilst we were all trembling, and her earthly 
mistress, who was herself one of the contending martyrs, was ap- 
prehensive lest through the weakness of the flesh she should not 
be able to profess her faith with sufficient freedom, Blandina 
was filled with such power, that her ingenious tormentors who 
relieved and succeeded each other from morning till night, con- 
fessed that they were overcome, and had nothing more that they 
could inflict upon her. Only amazed that she still continued to 
breathe after her whole body was torn asunder and pierced, 
thfsy gave their testimony that one single kind of the torture in- 
flicted was of itself sufiicient to destroy life, without resorting to 
so many and such excruciating sufferings as these. 

But this blessed saint, as a noble wrestler, in the midst of her 
confession itself renewed her strength, and to repeat, " I am a 
Christian, no wickedness is carried on by us," was to her rest, re- 
freshment and relief from pain. But Sanctus himself, also nobly 
sustaining beyond all measure and human power, the various 
torments devised by men, whilst the wicked tormentors hoped 
that by the continuance and the greatness of the tortures, they 
would get to hear something from him that he ought not to say, 
withstood them with so much firmness, that he did not even 
declare his name, nor that of his nation, nor the city whence he 
was, nor whether he was a slave or a freeman, but to all the 
questions that were proposed, he answered in the Roman tongue, 
" I am a Christian." For this he confessed instead of his name, 
his city, his race, and instead of every thing. No other expression 
did the heathen hear from him. Whence, also, an ambitious strug- 
gle in torturing arose between the governor and the tormentors 
against him ; so that when they had nothing further that they 
could inflict, they at last fastened red hot plates of brass to the 
most tender parts of his body. But he continued unsubdued and 
unshaken, firm in his confession, refreshed and strengthened by 
the celestial fountain of living water that flows from Christ. But 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 1*73 

the corpse itself was evidence of his sufferings, as it was one con- 
tinued wound, mangled and shrivelled, that had entirely lost the 
form of man to the external eye. Christ suffering in him exhi- 
bited wonders ; defeating the adversary, and presenting a kind of 
model to the rest, that there is nothing terrific where the love of 
the Father, nothing painful where the glory of Christ prevails. 
For when the lawless tormentors tortured the martyr again 
during the day, and supposed that whilst the wounds were 
swollen and inflamed, if they applied the same torments, they 
would subdue him, as if he would not then be able to bear even 
the touch of the hand, or else, that dying under his tortures he 
would strike a terror into the rest, not only was there no appear- 
ance hke this, but, beyond all human expectation, the body raised 
itself, and stood erect amid the torments afterwards inflicted, and 
recovered the former shape and habit of the limbs ; so that his 
second tortures became, through the grace of Christ, not his 
torment, but his cure. But the devil also led forth a certain 
Biblias to punishment, who was one of those that had renounced 
the faith, thinking that he had already swallowed her, was anxious 
to increase her condemnation by blasphemy, and constraining her 
as a frail and timid character, easily overpowered, to utter im- 
pieties against us. But in the midst of the torture she repented 
and recovered herself, and as if awaking out of a deep sleep, was 
reminded by the punishment before her, of the eternal punish- 
ment in hell. And accordingly she contradicted the blasphemers 
in her declarations. " How," said she, " could such as these devour 
children, who considered it unlawful even to taste the blood of 
irrational animals ?" After that, she professed herself a Christian, 
and was added to the number of martyrs. But as all the tortures 
of the tyrants were defeated by Christ, through the patience of the 
martyrs, the devil devised other machinations ; among these were 
their confinement in prison, in a dark and most dismal place ; 
their feet also stretched in the stocks,* and extended to the fifth 
hole, and other torments, which the enraged minions of wicked- 

* The instrument of punishment here mentioned was a piece of timber, with five 
pair of holes cut at certain distances apart The feet were put into these and secured 
with cords and fetters. 



174 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

ness, especially when stimulated by the influence of Satan, are 
accustomed to inflict upon the prisoners. Numbers of them were, 
therefore, suffocated in prison, as many, viz., as the Lord would 
have to depart, thus showing forth his glory. Some of them, in- 
deed, had been cruelly tormented, so that it appeared they could 
scarcely hve, though every means were applied to recover them. 
Though confined in prison, devoid of all human aid, they were 
strengthened by the Lord, and filled with power from him both in 
body and mind, and even stimulated and encouraged the rest. But 
the new converts and those that were recently taken, whose 
bodies were not exercised in trials, did not bear the oppression 
of incarceration, but died within the prison. 

But the blessed Pothinus, who had faithfully performed the mi- 
nistrations of the episcopate at Lyons, and who was past his nine- 
tieth year, and very infirm in body ; who, indeed, scarcely drew 
his breath, so weak was he in body at the time ; yet in the ar- 
dour of his soul, and his eager desire for martyrdom, he roused 
his remaining strength, and was himself also dragged to the tri- 
bunal. Though his body, indeed, was already nearly dissolved, 
partly by age and partly by disease, yet he still retaining his 
life in him, that Christ might triumph by it. When carried by 
the soldiers to the tribunal, whither the public magistrates ac- 
companied him, as if he were Christ himself, and when all the 
mob raised every outcry against him, he gave a noble testimony. 
When interrogated by the governor, who was the God of the Chris- 
tians, he said, " If thou art worthy, thou shalt know." After this, 
he was unmercifully dragged away and endured many stripes, 
whilst those that were near abused him with their hands and feet 
in every possible way, not even regarding his age. But those at 
a distance, whatsoever they had at hand, every one hurled at 
him, all thinking it would be a great sin and impiety if they fell 
short of wanton abuse against him. For they supposed they 
would thus avenge their own gods. Thus, scarcely drawing 
breath, he was thrown into prison, and after two days he there 
expired. A wonderful interposition of God was then exhibited, 
and the boundless mercy of Christ clearly displayed a thing that 
had rarely happened among brethren, but by no means beyond the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 175 

reach of the skill of Christ. For those that had fallen from the 
faith on the first seizure, were also themselves imprisoned, and 
shared in the sufferings of the rest. Their renunciation did 
them no good at this time, but those that confessed what they 
really were, were imprisoned as Christians ; no other charge being 
alleged against them. But these, at last, were confined as mur- 
derers and guilty culprits, and were punished with twice the se- 
verity of the rest. The former, indeed, were refreshed by the joy 
of martyrdom, the hope of the promises, the love of Christ, and 
the spirit of the Father ; but the latter were sadly tormented by 
their own conscience. So that the difference was obvious to all in 
their very countenances, when they were led forth. For the 
one went on joyful, much glory and grace being mixed in their 
faces, so that their bonds seemed to form noble ornaments, and, 
like those of a bride, adorned with various golden bracelets, and im- 
pregnated with the sweet odour of Christ, they appeared to some 
anointed with earthly perfumes. But the others, with downcast 
look, dejected, sad, and covered with every kind of shame, in ad- 
dition to this, were reproached by the heathen as mean and cow- 
ardly, bearing the charge of murderers, and losing the honourable, 
glorious, and life-giving appellation of Christians. The rest, how- 
ever, seeing these efiects, were so much the more confirmed, and 
those that were taken immediately, confessed, not even admitting 
the thought suggested by diabolical objections. Introducing 
some further remarks, they again proceed : " After these things 
their martyrdom was finally distributed into various kinds ; 
for platting and constituting one crown of various colours and 
all kinds of flowers, they offered it to the Father. It was right, 
indeed, that these noble wrestlers, who had sustained a diversi- 
fied contest, and had come off* with a glorious victory, should 
bear away the great crown of immortality. Maturus, therefore, 
and Sanctus, and Blandina, and Attains, were led into the amphi- 
theatre to the wild beasts, and to the common spectacle of hea- 
thenish inhumanity, the day for exhibiting the fight with wild 
beasts being designedly published on our account. Maturus, how- 
ever, and Sanctus, again passed through all the tortures in the 
amphitheatre, just as if they had suffered nothing at all before, or 



176 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

rather as those who in many trials before had defeated the adver- 
sary, and now contending for the crown itself, again as they pass- 
ed, bore the strokes of the scourge* usually inflicted there, the 
draggings and lacerations from the beasts, and all that the mad- 
ness of the people, one here and another there, cried for and de- 
manded ; and last of all the iron chair, upon which their bodies 
were roasted, whilst the fumes of their own flesh ascended to 
annoy them. The tormentors did not cease even then, but conti- 
nued to rage so much the more, intending if possible to conquer 
their perseverance. They could not, however, elicit or hear any- 
thing from Sanctus, besides that confession which he had uttered 
from the beginning." 

These two, therefore, in whom life for the most part had re- 
mained through the mighty conflict, were at last despatched. On 
that day, they were made an exhibition to the world, in place of 
the variety of gladiatorial combats. Blandina, however, was bound 
and suspended on a stake, and thus exposed as food to the assaults 
of wild beasts, and as she thus appeared to hang after the manner 
of the cross, by her earnest prayers she infused much alacrity into 
the contending martyrs. For as they saw her in the contest, with 
the external eyes, through their sister, they contemplated Him that 
was crucified for them, to persuade those that believe in him, that 
every one who suffers for Christ, will for ever enjoy communion 
with the living God. But as none of the beasts then touched her, she 
was taken down from the stake, and remanded back again to prison 
to be reserved for another contest ; so that by gaining the victory 
in many conflicts, she might render the condemnation of the wily 
serpent, irrefragable, and though small and weak and contempti- 
ble, but yet clothed with the mighty and invincible wrestler 
Christ Jesus, might also encourage her brethren. Thus she over- 
came the enemy in many trials, and in the conflict received the 
crown of immortality. But Attalus himself, being vehemently 
demanded by the populace, as he was a distinguished character, 
came well prepared for the conflict, conscious as he was of no 

* The punishment here inflicted, was much like what is called running the gant- 
let. The hunters stood in a long line, and as the martyrs passed, each one inflict- 
ed a stroke with a scourge upon the naked body. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 177 

evil done by him, and as one who had been truly exercised in Chris- 
tian discipline, and had always been a witness of the truth with 
us. When led about in the theatre, with a tablet before him, on 
which was written in Latin, "This is Attains the Christian," 
and the people were violently incensed against him, the governor 
learning that he was a Roman, ordered him to be remanded back 
again to prison with the rest, concerning whom he had writ- 
ten to Cesar, and was now awaiting his determination. But he 
(Attalus) in the meantime was neither idle nor unprofitable to 
them, but, by their patient endurance, the immeasurable mercy of 
Christ was manifested. For by means of those that were yet 
living, were things dead made to live. And the martyrs confer- 
red benefits upon those that were no martyrs, (i. e. upon those 
that had fallen away.) Much joy was also created in the Virgin 
Mother, (the church,) for those whom she had brought forth as 
dead she recovered again as living. For by means of these the 
greater part of those that fell away, again retraced their steps, 
were again conceived, were again endued with vital heat, and 
learned to niake the confession of their faith. And now living 
again, and strengthened in their faith, they approached the tribu- 
nal, where that God that willeth not the death of the sinner, but 
inviteth all to repentance, sweetly regarding them, they were 
again interrogated by the governor. For as Cesar had written 
that they should be beheaded, but if any renounced the faith 
these should be dismissed ; at the commencement of the fair 
which is held here, which indeed is attended by an immense con- 
course of people from all nations, the governor led forth the 
martyrs, exhibiting them as a show and public spectacle to the 
crowd. Wherefore, he also examined them again, and as many 
as appeared to have the Roman citizenship, these he beheaded. 
The rest he sent away to the wild beasts. But Christ was won- 
derfully glorified in those that had before renounced him, as they 
then, contrary to all suspicion, on the part of the Gentiles, con- 
fessed. And these indeed, were separately examined, as if they 
were soon to be dismissed ; but as they confessed, they were ad- 
ded to the number of the martyrs. Those, however, who had 
never anv traces of the faith, nor any conception of the marriage 

Z 



178 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

garment, nor any thought of the fear of God, remained without, 
who, as the sons of perdition, blasphemed the way by their apos- 
tacy. All the rest, however, were attached to the church, of 
whom, when examined, a certain Alexander was found to be one, 
a Phrygian by birth, and physician by profession. Having 
passed many years in Gaul, and being well known for his love of 
God and his freedom in declaring the truth, for he was not des- 
titute of apostolical grace, he stood before the tribunal, and by 
signs encouraged them to a good confession, appearing to those 
around the tribunal as one in the pains of childbirth. The mob, 
however, chagrined that those who had before renounced the faith 
were again confessing, cried out against Alexander, as if he had 
been the cause of this. And when the governor urged and 
asked him who he was, and he replied that he was a Christian, 
in his rage he condemned him to the wild beasts, and accordingly 
on the following day, he entered the arena with Attalus. For the 
governor to gratify the people, also gave up Attalus a second 
time to the beasts. 

Thus, enduring all the torments that were invented as punish- 
ment in the amphitheatre, and after sustaining the arduous con- 
flict, these were likewise finally despatched. As to Alexander, he 
neither uttered a groan nor any moaning sound at all, but in his 
heart communed with God; and Attalus, when placed upon the 
iron chair, and the fumes from his roasting body arose upon him, 
said to the multitude in Latin : " Lo this is to devour men, what 
you are doing. But as to us, we neither devour men nor com- 
mit any other evil." And when asked what was the name of 
God, he answered, God has no name like a man. After all these, 
on the last day of the shows of gladiators, Blandina was again 
brought forth, together with Ponticus, a youth about fifteen 
years old. These were brought in every day to see the tortures of 
the rest. Force was also used to make them swear by their idols ; 
and when they continued firm, and denied their pretended divinity, 
the multitude became outrageous at them, so that they neither 
compassionated the youth of the boy nor regarded the sex of the 
woman. Hence they subjected them to every horrible suffering, 
and led them through the whole round of torture, ever and anon 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 179 

striving to force them to swear, but were unable to effect it. 
Ponticus, indeed, encouraged by his sister, so that the heathen 
could see that she was encouraging and confirming him, nobly 
bore the whole of these sufferings, and gave up his life. But the 
blessed Blandina, last of all, as a noble mother that had animated 
her children, and sent them as victors to the great King, herself 
retracing the ground of all the conflicts her children had endured, 
hastened at last, with joy and exultation at the issue, to .them, "as 
if she w^ere invited to a marriage feast, and not to be cast to 
wild beasts. And thus, after scourging, after exposure to the 
beasts, after roasting, she was finally thrown into a net and cast 
before a bull, and when she had been well tossed by the animal, 
and had now no longer any sense of what was done to her by 
reason of her firm hope, confidence, faith, and her communion 
with Christ, she too was despatched. Even the Gentiles confess- 
ed, that no woman among them had ever endured sufferings as 
many and great as these. But not even then was their madness 
and cruelty to the saints satisfied ; for these fierce and barbarous 
tribes, stimulated by the savage beast Satan, were in a fury not 
easily to be assuaged, so that their abuse of the bodies assumed 
another novel and singular aspect. Not abashed when overcome 
by the martyrs, but e'vidently destitute of all reason, the madness 
both of the governor and the people, as of some savage beast, 
blazed forth so much the more, to exhibit the same unjust hostility 
against us. That the Scriptures might be fulfilled, " He that 
is unjust let him be mijust stiU, and he that is righteous let him 
be righteous still." Rev. xxii. 11. For those that were suffo- 
cating in the prison, they cast to the dogs, carefully watching 
them night and day, lest any should be buried by us, and then 
also cast away the remains left by the beasts and the fire, how- 
soever they had either been mangled or burnt. They also 
guarded the heads of the others, together with the trunks of 
their bodies, vdth military watches, for many days in succession, 
in order to prevent them from being buried. Some, indeed, 
raged and gnashed their teeth against them, anxious to find out 
some better way of punishment. Others, again, laughed at and 
insulted them, extolling their idols, and imputing to them the 



180 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

punishment of the martyrs. But others, more moderate, and who 
in some measure appeared to sympathize, frequently upbraided 
them, saying, " where is their God, and what benefit has their reh- 
gion been to them, which they preferred to their own hfe?" Such 
was the variety of disposition among the Gentiles, but among our 
brethren, matters were in great affliction for want of liberty to 
commit the bodies to the earth. For neither did the night avail 
us for this purpose, nor had money any effect to persuade, nor 
could any prayers or entreaties move them. But they guarded 
them in every possible way, as if it were a great gain, to prevent 
them from burial. To these, they afterwards add other ac- 
counts, saying : " The bodies of the martyrs after being abused 
in every possible manner, and thus exposed to the open air for 
SIX days, were at length burned and reduced to ashes by the 
wretches, and finally cast into the Rhone that flows near at hand, 
that there might not be a vestige of them remaining on the land. 
These things they did as if they were able to overcome God, and 
destroy their resurrection, (jtaT^LyyevsaLav) as they themselves 
gave out, ' that they might not have any hope of rising again, in 
the belief of which, they have introduced a new and strange reli- 
gion, and contemn the most dreadful punishments, and are pre- 
pared to meet death even with joy. Now we shall see, whether 
they will rise again ; and whether their god is able to help them, 
and rescue them out of our hands.' " 



CHAPTER 11. 

Those that had fallen away, kindly restored, hy the pious martyrs. 

Such were the occurrences that befel the churches of Christ 
under the abovementioned emperor, from which it is easy to con- 
jecture what was the probable course of things in the remaining 
provinces. It may be well here to add to these accounts, other 
extracts from the same epistle, in which the moderation and be- 
nevolence of these martyrs whom we have mentioned, is record' 
ed in the following words : " They were also so zealous in their 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 181 

imitation of Christ, who, though in the form of God, thought it 
not robbery to be equal with God," that though they were es- 
teemed in the same Hght, and had neither once nor twice, but 
frequently, endured martyrdom, and had been again taken away 
from the beasts to prison, and had brands, and scars, and wounds 
spread over them, they did not proclaim themselves martyrs, for 
it did not become us to apply this name to them ; but if any one 
of us, either by letter or in conversation, called them martyrs, 
they seriously reproved us. For they cheerfully yielded the 
title of martyr to Christ, the true and faithful martyr, (witness) 
the first begotten from the dead, the prince of divine life. They 
also made mention of those martyrs that had already departed, 
and said: "They now are martyrs whom Christ has thought 
worthy to be received in their confession, setting the seal to their 
martyrdom, (testimony,) by the issue. But we are but indifferent 
and mean confessors, and with tears did they entreat the bre- 
thren, that they should offer up incessant prayers, that they might 
be made perfect. They exhibited, indeed, the power of martyr- 
dom in fact, exercising much freedom in declaring themselves 
to all people, and manifested their noble patience and fearless in- 
trepidity; but the name of martyrs, (witnesses) they declined re- 
ceiving from the brethren, filled as they were with the fear of 
God." Again, after a httle, they say, " They humbled themselves 
under the mighty hand, by which they are now highly exalted. 
Then, however, they pleaded for all, they accused none, they ab- 
solved all, they bound none, and prayed for those that were so 
bitter in their hostility, like Stephen, that perfect martyr. ' Lord 
impute not this sin to them.' But if he prayed for those that 
stoned him, how much more for the brethren." And again they 
say, after mentioning other matters, " This was their greatest 
conflict against him, (the devil,) on account of the genuine cha- 
racter of their love, that the beast being choaked and throttled 
might be forced to return ahve again (to vomit up) those whom 
he had already thought to have swallowed. For they did not 
arrogate any superiority over the backsliders : but in those things 
wherein they themselves abounded ; in this they supplied those 
that were deficient, exercising the compassion of mothers, and 



182 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

pouring forth many prayers, to the Father on their account. 
They implored Hfe, and he gave it to them, which they also 
shared with their neighbours ; coming off victorious over all, 
to God: always lovers of peace, they always recommended 
peace, and with peace they departed to God. Not leaving 
grief to their mother, (the church,) no discord or dissensions 
to the brethren, but joy and peace, unanimity and love. This 
account may be profitably added, respecting the love of those 
blessed brethren towards those that fell away, on account of 
those also, who after these events, unsparingly exercised an in- 
human and merciless disposition towards the members of Christ. 



CHAPTER III. 

The vision that appeared to Attains the martyr, in a dream. 

The same epistle of the abovementioned martyrs, also contains 
another account worthy of record, which no one could regret 
to be presented to the knowledge of our readers. It is as fol- 
lows : " A certain Alcibiades, who was one of these (martyrs,) 
and who had led a hard and rough kind of life, partook of no 
food usually eaten, but merely bread and water. When cast 
into prison, and he attempted to lead the same kind of hfe, it was 
revealed to Attalus, after the first conflict which he finished in 
the amphitheatre, that Alcibiades did not do well in not making 
use of the creatures of God, and affording an example of offence 
to others. Alcibiades, therefore, in obedience to this, partook 
of all kinds of food, and gave thanks to God ; for neither were 
they destitute of divine grace, but the divine spirit was their 
counsellor." But let this suffice concerning these. Now as 
Montanus, and Alcibiades,* and Theodotus, in Phrygia, then 
first began to be esteemed by many for their gifts, (as there were 
many other wonderful powers of divine grace, yet exhibited even 
at that time in different churches,) they created the belief with 

* This is a different Alcibiades from the one beforementioned. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 183 

many, that they also were endued with prophecy. And as 
there was a dissension in consequence of these men, the brethren 
in Gaul again presented their own pious and correct judgment 
also concerning these, and pubHshed several letters of the martyrs 
that had been put to death among them. These they had writ- 
ten whilst yet in prison, and addressed to the brethren in Asia and 
Phrygia. And not only to these but likewise to Eleutherus, who 
was then bishop of Rome, negotiating as it were for the peace of 
the chxirches. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The martyrs commend Trencms in their epistle. 

But these same martyrs recommending also Irenaeus, who 
was then a presbyter of the church at Lyons, to the bishop of 
Rome beforementioned, bear abundant testimony in his favour, 
as the following extracts show : " We pray and desire, father 
Eleutherus, that you may rejoice in God in all things and 
always. We have requested our brother and companion Ire- 
naeus to carry this epistle to you, and we exhort you to consider 
him as commended to you as a zealous follower of the testament 
(covenant) of Christ. For if we knew that any place could con- 
fer righteousness upon any one, we would certainly commend 
him among the first as a presbyter of the church, the station that 
he holds." Why should we here transcribe the hst of those mar- 
tyrs given in the abovementioned epistle, of whom some were 
made perfect by decapitation, some cast to be devoured by 
wild beasts, and others again fell asleep in prison. Why repeat 
the number of confessors still living ? For whoever wishes to 
learn these, can more easily obtain the fullest account by con- 
sulting the epistle itself, which, as I said, has been inserted by us 
in our collection of martyrs. But such were the events that 
happened under Antonine. 



184 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER V. 

God sent rain from heaven to Marcus Aurelius, the emperor f at the 
prayers of our brethren. 

But it is said that Marcus Aurelius Cesar, the brother of 
the former, when about to engage in battle with the Germans 
and Sarmatians, and his army was suffering with thirst, was 
greatly at a loss on this account. Then, however, those soldiers 
that belonged to the Melitine legion, as it was called, by a faith 
which has continued from that time to this, bending their knees 
upon the earth whilst drawn up in battle array against the 
enemy, according to our peculiar custom of praying, entered into 
prayer before God. And as this was a singular spectacle to the 
enemy, a still more singular circumstance is reported to have 
happened immediately ; that the lightning drove the enemy into 
flight and destruction, but that a shower came down and re- 
freshed the army of those that then called upon God, the whole 
of which was on the point of perishing with thirst. This history 
is related also by historians who are strangers to our doctrine, 
who, however, took an interest in the writings of those whom 
we have mentioned ; but it is also stated by our own writers, 
whilst the wonderful event is also added by historians who differ 
from our faith, but who do not admit that this happened at the 
prayers of our brethren. But the fact is handed down on record 
by our brethren, as lovers of truth, in a plain and undisguised 
manner. Of these we might mention Apollinaris, who says that 
from that time the legion at whose prayers the wonder took place, 
received an appellation appropriate to the event, from the em- 
peror, being called the fulminea, or thundering legion. Ter- 
tullian also might be cited as a suitable witness of these things, in 
the Apology that he addressed to the Roman senate for the faith, 
the work which has been already mentioned by us, in which he 
confirms the history with greater and more powerful proof, where 
he writes as follows : " There are epistles of the most learned em- 
peror Marcus still extant, in which he himself bears testimony that 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 185 

when his army was ready to perish for want of water, it was 
saved by the prayers of the Christians ;" he says also, " that the 
same emperor threatened death to those that attempted to accuse 
us." To w^hich he also adds, " What kind of laws are those 
which the wicked, unjust, and cruel put in force against us alone ? 
which neither Vespasian observed, although be conquered the 
Jews, w^hich Trajan in part annulled ; forbidding that the Chris- 
tians should be hunted up ; which not even Adrian, though very 
inquisitive in all' matters, nor he that was surnamed the Pious, 
confirmed." But every one may place these to what account 
he pleases. Let us proceed to the order of our history. Po- 
thinus having died with the other martyrs of Gaul, in the nine- 
tieth year of his age, he w^as succeeded by Irenseus in the episco- 
pate of the church at Lyons. We have understood he was a 
hearer of Polycarp in his youth. This writer has inserted the 
succession of the bishops in his third book against the heresies, 
w^here he reviews the catalogue down to Eleutherus, whose 
times we are now examining, as he laboured with him in the 
production of this work, wanting as follows. 



CHAPTER VL 

Catalogue of the bishops of Rome, 

"The blessed apostles having founded and established the 
church, transmitted the office of the episcopate to Linus. Of 
this Linus, Paul makes mention in his Epistles to Timothy. He 
was succeeded by Anencletus, and after him Clement held the 
episcopate, the third from the apostles. Who, as he had seen 
the blessed apostles, and had been connected wdth them, might 
be said to have the doctrine of the apostles still sounding in his 
ears, and what they delivered before his eyes. And not only he, 
but many others were still left, who had been taught by the 
apostles. In the times of tliis Clement, there was no little dis- 
sension among the brethren at Corinth, on occasion of which 
the church at Rome wrote a considerable Epistle to the Corin- 

2 A 



186 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

thians, confirming them in peace, and renewing their faith and the 
doctrine they had lately received from the apostles. After a 
little, he subjoins : " But this Clement was succeeded by Euares- 
tus, and Euarestus by Alexander. Xystus followed as the sixth 
from the apostles, after whom was Telesphorus, who also illus- 
triously suffered martyrdom, then came Hyginus, and after him 
Pius. He was followed by Anicetus, and as he was succeeded 
by Soter, the twelfth from the apostles in the episcopate now is 
Eleutherus, in the same order and the same doctrine (or succes- 
sion*) in which the tradition of the apostles in the church and the 
promulgation of the truth has descended to us." 



CHAPTER VII. 

Miracles were performed in those times by the believers. 

These accounts are given by Irenaeus in those five books of his, 
to which he gave the title of " Refutation and Overthrow of 
False Doctrine." In the second book of the same work, he also 
shows that even down to his times, instances of divine and mi- 
, raculous power were remaining in some churches. " So far are 
they," says he, " from raising the dead, as the Lord raised, and 
as the apostles by means of prayer, for even among the brethren 
frequently in a case of necessity when a whole church united in 
much fasting and prayer, the spirit has returned to the ex-ani- 
mated body, and the man was granted to the prayers of the 
saints." And again, he says, after other observations : " But if 
they say that our Lord also did these things only in appearance, 
we shall refer them back to the prophetic declarations, and 
shall show from them that all those things were strictly foretold, 
and were done by him, and that he alone is the Son of God. 
Wherefore, also, those that were truly his disciples, receiving 
grace from him, in his name performed these things for the benefit 

* The word succession, in the parenthesis, is adopted by Valesius as the correct 
reading. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 187 

of the rest of men, as every one received the free gift from him. 
Some, indeed, most certainly and truly cast out daemons, so that 
frequently those persons themselves that were cleansed from 
wicked spirits helieved and were received into the church. 
Others have the knowledge of things to come, as also visions 
and prophetic communications ; others heal the sick by the im- 
position of hands, and restore them to health. And, moreover, 
as we said above, even the dead have been raised and continued 
with us many years. And why should we say more ? It is im- 
possible to tell the number of the gifts w^hich the church through- 
out the world received from God, and the deeds performed in the 
name of Jesus Christ, that was crucified under Pontius Pilate, 
and this too every day for the benefit of the heathen, without 
deceiving any, or exacting their money. For as she has received 
freely from God, she also freely ministers." In another place 
the same author writes : " As we hear many of the brethren in 
the church who have prophetic gifts, and who speak in all 
tongues through the spirit, and who also, bring to light the secret 
things of men for their benefit, and who expound the mysteries 
of God." These gifts of different kinds also continued with those 
that were worthy until the times mentioned. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The statement of Irenceus respecting the sacred Scriptures. 

Since we have promised in the outset of our work to give ex- 
tracts occasionally when w^e refer to the declarations of the an- 
cient presbyters and historians of the church, in which they have 
transmitted the traditions that have descended to us respecting 
the sacred Scriptures, among these Irenasus was one. Let us 
now give his words, and first of all what he has said of the holy 
gospels : " Matthew, indeed," says he, " produced his gospel writ- 
ten among the Hebrews in their own dialect, whilst Peter and 
Paul proclaimed the gospel and founded the church at Rome. 



188 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

After the departure of these, Mark, the disciple and interpreter 
of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing what had been preach- 
ed by Peter. And Luke, the companion of Paul, committed to 
writing the gospel preached by him, i. e. Paul. Afterwards John 
the disciple of our Lord, the same that lay upon his bosom, also 
published the gospel, whilst he was yet at Ephesus in Asia." 
This is what this author says in the third book of the work al- 
ready mentioned ; and in the fifth, he thus descants on the Reve- 
lation of John and the calculation of antichrist's name : " As mat- 
ters are thus, and the number is thus found in all the genuine 
and ancient copies, and as they who saw John attest, reason 
itself shows that the number of the name of the beast is indi- 
cated by the Greek letters which it contains." And a little 
further on he speaks of the same John : " We, therefore," says 
he, " do not venture to affirm any thing with certainty respecting 
the name of antichrist. For were it necessary that his name 
should be clearly announced to the present age, it would have 
been declared by him who saw the revelation. For it has not 
been long since it was seen, but almost in our own generation, 
about the end of Domitian's reign." These are what he states 
respecting the Revelation. He also mentions the First Epistle 
of John, extracting many testimonies from it : he also mentions 
the First Epistle of Peter. And he not only knew, but also ad- 
mitted the book called Pastor, in these words : " Well is it said in 
that work which declares, ' first of all believe that there is one 
God, who created and arranged all things,' " &c. 

He also quotes some expressions from the Wisdom of Solomon, 
almost in these words : " The vision of God is productive of im- 
mortality, but immortality makes us to be next to God." He also 
mentions the commentaries of a certain apostolical presbyter, 
whose name he has passed by in silence ; he also adds his expo- 
sitions of the sacred Scriptures. He moreover makes mention of 
Justin Martyr and Ignatius, taking some testimony also from the 
works written by these. He also promises in a separate work to 
refute some of the writings of Marcion. Hear also what he has 
written respecting the translation of the holy Scriptures by the 
seventy. " God," says he, " became man, and the Lord himself 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 189 

saved us, giving us the sign of the Virgin. But not as some say, 
that now presume to interpret the Scriptures. * Behold a young 
vroman shall conceive and bear a son,' as Theodotian of Ephesus 
and Aquila of Pontus, have translated, both of them Jewish pro- 
selytes. Whom the Ebionites following, assert that Jesus was be- 
gotten of Joseph." After a little, he adds : " For before the Ro- 
mans estabHshed their empire, whilst yet the Macedonians had 
possession of Asia, Ptolemy the son of Lagus being ambitious to 
adorn the library established by him in Alexandria, with the 
works of all men, as many as were worthy of being studied, 
requested of the inhabitants of Jerusalem to have their works 
translated into the Greek ; but as they were yet subject to the 
Macedonians, they sent seventy of their elders that were best 
skilled in the Scriptures, and in both languages, to Ptolemy, and 
thus Providence favoured his design. But as he wished them to 
make the attempt separately, and apprehensive, lest by concert 
they might conceal the truth of the Scriptures by their interpreta- 
tion, therefore separating them from one another, he commanded 
all to write the same translation. And this he did in all the books. 
Assembling therefore in the same place, in the presence of Ptolemy, 
and each of them comparing their respective versions, God was 
glorified, and the Scriptures were recognised as truly divine, as 
all of them rendered the same things, in the very same expres- 
sions, and the same words, from the beginning to the end. So that 
the Gentiles present knew that the Scriptures were translated 
by a divine inspiration. Neither was it any thing extraordinary 
that God should have done this, who, indeed, in the captivity of 
the people under Nebuchadnezzar, when the Scriptures had been 
destroyed, and the Jews returned to their country after seventy 
years, subsequently in the times of Artaxeres king of the Persians, 
he inspired Esdras the priest, of the tribe of Levi, to compose 
anew all the discourses of the ancient prophets, and to restore to 
the people the laws given by Moses." Thus far Irenaeus. 



190 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The bishops under Commodus, 

Antoninus having held the empire nineteen years, Commodus 
received the government. In his first year JuHan undertook the 
superintendance of the churches of Alexandria, after Agrippinus 
had filled the office twelve years. 



CHAPTER X. 

Of Pantcenus the philosopher. 

About the same time, the school of the faithful was governed 
by a man most distinguished for his learning, whose name was 
Pantaenus. As there had been a school of sacred learning esta- 
blished there from ancient times, which has continued down to our 
own times, and which we have understood was held by men able 
in eloquence, and the study of divine things. For the tradition 
is, that this philosopher was then in great eminence, as he had 
been first disciplined in the philosophical principles of those called 
stoics. But he is said to have displayed such ardour, and so zea- 
lous a disposition, respecting the divine word, that he was con- 
stituted a herald of the gospel of Christ to the nations of the east, 
and advanced even as far as India. There were even there yet 
many evangelists of the word, who were ardently striving to em- 
ploy their inspired zeal after the apostolic example, to increase 
and build up the divine word. Of these Pantaenus is said to have 
been one, and to have come as far as the Indies. And the re- 
port is, that he there found his own arrival anticipated by some 
who there were acquainted with the gospel of Matthew, to 
whom Bartholomew^ one of the apostles, had preached, and had 
left them the gospel of Matthew in the Hebrew, which was also 
preserved until this time. Pantaenus, after many praiseworthy 
deeds, was finally at the head of the Alexandrian school, com- 
menting on the treasures of divine truth, both orally and in his 
writings. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 191 

CHAPTER XL 

Clement of Alexandria, 

At this time, also, flourished Clement, at Alexandria, of the 
same name with him who anciently presided over the church of 
Rome, and who was a disciple of the apostles. This Qement 
was devoted to the study of the same Scriptures with Pantaenus, 
and in his Institutions expressly mentions the latter by name as his 
teacher. He also appears to me to designate this same one in the 
first book of his Stromata, when he points out the most distin- 
guished of the apostolic succession, which he had received from 
tradition, in the following words : " These books," says he, " were 
not fabricated as a work of ostentation, but they are treasured 
up by me as a kind of conmaentaries for my old age, and an anti- 
dote to forgetfulness, as a natural image and sketch of those 
efficacious and inspired doctrines which I was honoured to have 
from those blessed and truly excellent men. Of these, the one 
was lonicus in Greece, but the other in Magna Grjecia ; the one 
of them being a S3n:ian, the other a native of Egypt. Others, 
however, there were, living in the east ; and of these, one was 
from Assyria, another of Palestine, a Hebrew by descent. The 
last that I met with was the first in excellence. Him I found 
concealed in Egypt ; and, meeting him there, I ceased to extend 
my search beyond him, as one who had no superior in abilities. 
These, indeed, preserved the true tradition of tbe salutary doc- 
trine, which, as given by Peter and James, John and Paul, had 
descended from father to son. Though there are few like their 
fathers, they have, by the favour of God, also come down to us 
to plant that ancient and apostolic seed likewise in our minds." 



192 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XIL 

The bishops of Jerusalem, 

At this time also, Narcissus, who is celebrated among many 
even at this day, was noted as bishop of Jerusalem, being the 
fifteenth in succession since the invasion of the Jews under Ha- 
drian. Since this event, we have shown that the church there 
consisted of Gentiles after those of the circumcision, and that 
Marcus was the iirst bishop of the Gentiles that presided there. 
After him, Cassianus held the episcopal office ; after him followed 
Publius, then Maximus; these were followed by JuHan, then 
Caius ; after him Symmachus, and another Caius ; and then an- 
other Julian, who was followed by Capito, and Valens and Doli- 
chianus. Last of all Narcissus, the thirtieth in regular succession 
from the apostles. 



CHAPTER XIIL 



Of Rhodo, and the dissension occasioned by Marcion^ which he 

records. 

About this time, also, Rhodo, a native of Asia, being instructed, 
as himself says, by Tatian, with whom we have already become 
acquainted, and having written various other books, among the 
rest, also combatted the heresy of Marcion. This, he says, was 
split into various opinions in his time ; and describing those that 
occasioned the decision, he also accurately refutes the perverse 
doctrines devised by each of them. Hear him in his own words : 
" Hence," says he, " they are also divided among themselves, 
as they maintain a doctrine that cannot stand. For from this 
herd arose Apelles, who, assuming a gravity of deportment, and 
presuming upon his age, professed to believe but one principle, 
and that the prophetic declarations proceeded from an adverse 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 193 

spirit He was deluded, however, by the responsive oracular an- 
swers of a certain virgin under demoniacal influence, and whose 
name was Philumena. But others, as the Mariner Marcion him- 
self, introduced two principles, to which sect belong Potitus and 
Basilicus. These following that wolf of Pontus (Marcion), and, 
like the former, unable to find the division of things, sunk into 
licentiousness, and roundly asserted, without any proof, that there 
were two principles. Others, again, declining from them to a 
still greater error, established not only tw^o but three natures." 
Of these, the chief and leader was Syneros, as those that esta- 
blished his school say. But the same author writes, that he also 
had some conference with Apelles. " For," says he, " the old 
man Apelles, when he came into conversation with us, was re- 
futed in many of his false assertions. Hence, he also said, that 
one ought not to examine doctrine, but that each one should con- 
tinue as he believed. For he asserted, that those who trusted in 
him that was crucified would be saved, if they were only found 
engaged in good works. But he asserted, that the most obscured 
of all things was, as w^e before said, the question respecting the 
Deity." For he said there was one principle, as our doctrine 
asserts : then, after advancing the whole of his opinion, he sub- 
joins the following : " When I said to him, ' how do you prove 
this ? or, how can you say there is one principle 1 I wish you to 
explain,' he said, ' that the prophecies refuted themselves, because 
they uttered nothing that was true. For they are inconsistent 
and false, and contradict themselves. But said, that he did not, 
however, know there was only one principle, he was only moved 
to adopt this opinion.' Then conjuring him to speak the truth, 
he swore that he did speak the truth, and said he did not under- 
stand how there could be a God without being produced, but 
that he believed it. On learning tliis, I laughed, and reproved 
him ; because whilst he asserted that he was a teacher, he knew 
not how to establish that which he taught." 

In the same work which he addressed to Calhstion, he confesses 
that he himself was taught by Tatian at Rome, and says, also, 
that a book of questions had been written by Tatian, in which 
Tatian, having promised that he would explain what was hidden 

2B 



194 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and obscure in the sacred writings ; Rhodon himself promises 
that he would give solutions to these questions in a work of his 
own. There is also a commentary of his extant, on the Hexa- 
hemeron. But this same Apelles uttered innumerable impieties 
against the law of Moses, and in many works he reviled the sa- 
cred Scriptures, using no small exertions, as it seems, to refute 
and overturn them. Thus far, however, respecting these. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The false prophets of the Phrygians, 

But, as the enemy of the church of God is the great adver- 
sary of all goodness, the promoter of evil, and omits no method of 
plotting against men, he was active again in causing new here- 
sies to spring up against the church. Some of these crept like 
venomous reptiles over Asia and Phrygia, pretending that Mon- 
tanus was the Paraclete,* but that the two women who followed 
him, Priscilla and Maximilla, were prophetesses of Montanus. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Of the schism of Blastus, at Rome. 

Others there were that flourished at Rome, at the head of 
whom was Florinus, who falling from his office as a presbyter of 
the church, Blastus was very nearly involved in the same fall 

* Paraclete, the epithet of the holy Spirit, occurring in St. John's gospel. It 
is the Greek derivative, signifying Comforter or Advocate. Other false teachers 
besides Montanus, have either assumed or had this epithet apphed to them ; among 
these, the impostor Mahomet is not the least noted. In the gospel of Barnabas, 
this name, by a mere change of the vowels, is ^£p<x\uTo;, the most glorious, instead 
of 5r»p»x\)iTej. As this cxpressBs the meaning of Mahomet's name, this gospel of 
Barnabas is much valued, at least among the African Mahometans. See the Co- 
ran, Sur. LXI. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 195 

with him. These, also, drawing away many of the church, se- 
duced them into their opinions, each one endeavouring separately 
to introduce his own innovations respecting the truth. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

V The affain of Montantis, and his false prophets. 

Against the ahovementioned heresy of the Cataphrygians, 
that power which is the defender of the truth, raised up a pow- 
erful weapon and antagonist in Apollinaris of Hierapohs, whom 
we mentioned before, and many other eloquent men with him 
there. Of whom, also, most abundant matter has been left us 
for our history. A certain one of them, in the very beginning 
of his work against them (the Cataphrygians,) first intimates 
that he would meet and refute them by open argument. For 
thus he commences his work : " As for a long and very con- 
siderable time, O beloved Avircius Marcellus, I have been 
urged by thee to write a discourse against the heresy which 
is called after Miltiades, I have been somehow too much in 
doubt until now, not indeed, for want of argument to refute the 
false doctrine, or to bear witness to the truth, but fearing and 
apprehensive, lest, perhaps, I should appear to any to give any 
new injunctions, or to superadd any thing to the doctrine of the 
New Testament, to which it is impossible that any thing should 
be added or diminished, by one who has resolved to Hve accord- 
ing to the gospel. Lately, however, having been at Ancyra, a 
city of Galatia, and having understood that the church in Pontus 
was very much agitated by this new prophecy, as they call it, 
but which, as shall be shown, with divine assistance, deserves 
rather the name of false prophesy, I discoursed many days in 
the church, both respecting these matters and others that were 
proposed by them. So that the church, indeed, rejoiced and 
was strengthened in the truth ; but the adversaries were put to 
flight, and the opponents were cast down. But as the presbyters 
of the place requested that we should leave some comment of 



196 ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 

those things that we said, in opposition to the opponents of the 
truth, Zoticus Otrenus also being present, who was our fellow- 
presbyter ; this, indeed, I did not perform, but I promised writing 
hither, and to send it as soon as possible, if the Lord permitted." 
Such, and other matters, he states in the beginning of his work, 
premising the cause of the mentioned heresy, as follows: "Their 
combination, therefore, and the recent heretical severance of 
theirs from the church, had for its origin the following cause : — 
There is said to be a certain village of Mysia in Phrygia, called 
Ardaba. There, they say, one of those who was but a recent 
convert, Montanus by name, when Cratus was proconsul in 
Asia, in the excessive desire of his soul to take the lead, gave 
the adversary occasion against himself So that he was carried 
away in spirit, and wrought up into a certain kind of frenzy and 
irregular ecstasy, raving, and speaking, and uttering strange 
things, and proclaiming what was contrary to the institutions 
that had prevailed in the church, as handed down and preserved 
in succession from the earliest times.- But of those that hap- 
pened then to be present, and to hear these spurious oracles, 
some being indignant, rebuked him as one under the influence 
of daemons and the spirit of delusion, and who was only exciting 
disturbances among the multitude. These bore in mind the 
distinction and the warning given by our Lord, when he cau- 
tioned them to be vigilantly on their guard against false prophets. 
Others again, as if elated by the holy spirit, and the gift of grace, 
and not a little puffed up, and forgetting the distinction made by 
our Lord, challenged this insidious, flattering, and seducing spirit, 
being themselves captivated and seduced by him ; so that they 
could no longer restrain him to keep silence. Thus, by an ar- 
tifice, or rather by a certain crafty process, the devil having 
devised destruction against those that disobeyed the truth, and 
thus excessively honoured by them, secretly stimulated and fired 
their understandings, already wrapt in insensibility, and wander- 
ing away from the truth. For he excited two others, females, 
and filled them with the spirit of delusion, so that they also spake 
like the former, in a kind of extatic frenzy, out of all season, 
and in a manner strange and novel, whilst the spirit of evil con- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 197 

gratulated them, thus rejoicing and inflated hy him, and continu 
ed to pufF them up the more, by promises of great things. Some- 
times pointedly and deservedly, directly condemning them that 
he might appear also disposed to reprove them. Those few that 
were deceived were Phrygians ; but the same inflated spirit 
taught them to revile the whole church under heaven, because it 
gave neither access nor honour to this false spirit of prophecy. 
For when the faithful held frequent conversations in many 
places throughout Asia for this very purpose, and examined 
their novel doctrines, and pronounced them vain, and rejected 
them as heresy, then indeed they were expelled and prohibited 
from communion with the church." After relatins: these facts 
in the beginning of his work, and introducing the refutation of 
their error in the body of the work, he adds the following re- 
marks in the second book, respecting their end : " Therefore," 
says he, " since they call us slayers of the prophets, because we 
did not promptly receive their talkative prophets, saying, ' these 
were those whom the Lord promised to send to the people.' " Let 
them answer us in the name of God, O friends, which of these 
who began prating from Montanus and his women, is there that 
suffered persecution, or was slain by the evil doers? None. Not 
even one of them has been seized and crucified for the name (of 
Christ.) None at ah. Not one of their women was ever scourged 
in the synagogues of the Jew^s, or stoned. No, never. 

Montanus and Maximilla indeed, are said to have died 
another death than this, for at the instigation of that mischievous 
spirit, the report is, that both of them hung themselves, not indeed 
at the same time, but at the particular time of each one's death, 
as the general report is ; and thus they died and terminated their 
life like the traitor Judas. Thus, also, the general opinion is, that 
Theodotus, one of the first that was carried away by their pro- 
phecy, as it was called, and who became a kind of patron of the 
delusion, as if he should at some time be taken up and received into 
the heavens, and who falling into trances, gave himself up to the 
spirit of deception, was finally tossed by him hke a quoit in the 
air, and thus miserably perished. They say this happened as 
we have stated. But, my friend, we do not presume to know 



1 



198 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

anything certain of these matters, unless we had seen them. For 
perhaps both Montanus and Theodotus, and the abovementioned 
woman, may have died in this way, or they may not." He men- 
tions also in the same book, that the holy bishops of that time 
attempted to refute the spirit in Maximilla, but were prevented 
by others who manifestly co-operated with the spirit. His state- 
ment is as follows : " And let not, as is said in the same work of 
Asterius Urbanus, let not the spirit of Maximilla say, * I am 
chased like a wolf from the flock, I am no wolf. I am utterance, 
spirit, and power.' But let him show the power in the spirit 
effectually, and prove it And let him by the spirit face those 
that were present at the time, to examine and argue with the 
babbling spirit, men who were eminent, and bishops of the church, 
Zoticus of Comana, Julian of Apamea, whose tongues the follow- 
ers of Themison bridled and prevented them from refuting the 
false and seducing spirit." 

In the same work, after stating other matters in refutation of 
the false predictions of Maximilla, he likewise indicates the time 
that he wrote this, and mentions also, her declarations in which 
she foretold that there would be wars and political convulsions. 
The falsity of which is evinced by him as follows : " And has not," 
says he, " the falsehood of this been made obvious ? For it is 
now more than thirteen years since the woman died, and neither 
has there been a partial nor a general war, but rather, by the 
mercy of God, continued peace to the Christians." This he 
writes in the second book. I shall also subjoin some extracts 
from the third book, in which he speaks as follows, against those 
who boasted that there were many of their number that had 
suffered martyrdom : " But," says he, " since they are at a loss 
what to reply to the refutation of their errors, they attempt to 
take refuge to their martyrs, saying they have many martyrs, 
and that this is one sure evidence of the power of that spirit 
which they call prophetical. But this, as it appears, is nothing 
the more true on that account. For some of the other heresies 
also have a vast number of martyrs, but neither do we the more 
on that account agree with them, nor acknowledge that they have 
truth on their side. Indeed, they who are called Marcionites, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 199 

say that they had vast numbers that were martyrs for Christ 
But they do not confess Christ in truth." And a httle after, he 
adds : " Hence, whenever those that are called martyrs by the 
church, on account of enduring martyrdom for the true faith, 
happen to fall in with those called martyrs of the Phrygian 
heresy, they always separate from them and undergo death, 
having no commxmion with them, because they do not assent to 
the spirit of Montanus and the women, and that all this is true, 
and happened in our own times at Apamea on the Menander, 
is manifest from those who suffered martrydom with Caius and 
Alexander of Eumenia." 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Of Miltiades and his works. 



In the same work he also makes mention of the historian Mil- 
tiades, who also wrote a book against the same heresy. After 
quoting some passages from them, he adds ; " As I found these 
statements in one of their works against another work written 
by our brother Alcibiades, in which he demonstrates the impro- 
priety of a prophet's speaking in ecstasy. Tliis work I have 
abridged." After stating other matters, he enumerates those who 
had prophesied imder the New Testament. Among these he 
mentions one Ammias and Q,uadratus. " But the false prophet," 
says he, " is carried aw^ay by a vehement ecstasy, accompanied 
by want of all shame and fear. Beginning, indeed, with a de- 
signed ignorance, and terminating, as beforesaid, in involuntary 
madness. They will never be able to show that any of the Old 
or any of the New Testament, were thus violently agitated and 
carried away in spirit. Neither will they be able to boast that 
Agabus, or Judas, or Silas, or the daughters of Philip, or Am- 
mias in Philadelphia, or Quadratus, or others that do not be- 
long to them, ever acted in this way." Again, after a little, he 
says: "If after Quadratus and Ammias in Philadelphia, the wo- 
men that followed Montanus succeeded in the gift of prophecy, 



200 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

let them show us what women among them succeeded Montanus 
and his women. For the apostle shows that the gift of prophecy 
should be in all the church until the coming of the Lord, but they 
can by no means show any one at this time, the fourteenth year 
from the death of Maximilla." Thus far of this author. But 
the Miltiades mentioned by him has left other monuments of his 
study in the holy Scriptures, both in the works that he wrote 
against the Greeks, and those against the Jews. Both treatises 
are composed in two separate volumes. He has, moreover, writ- 
ten a work against the philosophers of the age, in favour of the 
philosophy which he embraced. f 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



ApoUonius also refutes the Phrygian heresy, and those whom he 
has mentioned. 

But the heresy of the Phrygians, as it was called, still con- 
tinuing to prevail in Phrygia, ApoUonius undertook to refute it in a 
particular work which he wrote ; on the one hand correcting their 
false predictions in reference to what they said, and on the other 
describing the life that those led who were its founders. Hear him 
in his own words respecting Montanus : " But who," says he, " is 
this new teacher ? His w^orks and his doctrines sufficiently show 
it. This is he that taught the dissolutions of marriage, he that 
imposed laws of fasting, that called Pepuza and Tymium, little 
places in Phrygia, a Jerusalem, in order to collect men from 
every quarter thither ; who established exactors of money, and 
under the name of offerings, devised the artifice to procure pre- 
sents ; who provided salaries for those that preached his doctrine, 
that it might grow strong by gormandizing and gluttony." Thus 
far concerning Montanus ; and further on he writes concerning 
his prophetesses : " We show, therefore," says he, " that these 
same leading prophetesses, as soon as they were filled with the 
spirit, abandoned their husbands. How then can they utter this 
falsehood, who call Prisca a virgin ?" He afterwards proceeds 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 201 

again : " Does it not appear to you that the Scripture forbids any 
prophet to receive gifts and money 1 When, therefore, I see a 
prophetess receiving both gold and silver, and precious garments, 
how can I fail to reject her ?" Again, further on, respecting a 
certain one of their 'confessors, he says : " Moreover, Themison, 
who was completely clad in a most plausible covetousness, who 
could not bear the great characteristic of confession, but threw 
aside bonds and imprisonment for the abundance of wealth, and 
though it became him to walk humbly, boasted as a martyr, 
and dared to imitate the apostles by drawing up a certain catholic 
epistle, to instruct those who had a better faith than himself, to 
contend for doctrines of empty sound, and to utter impieties 
against the Lord and his apostles and the holy church." Again, 
speaking of others that are honoured among them as martyrs, he 
writes thus : " But not to speak of many, let the prophetess tell 
us the circumstances of Alexander, who called himself a martyr, 
with whom she feasted, the same too that is adored by numbers ; 
whose robberies and other crimes, for which he was punished, it 
is not for us to tell, but which are preserved in the public records. 
Which of them forgives another his sins ? Does the prophetess 
forgive the martyr his robberies ? or the martyr forgive the pro- 
phetess her avarice 1 Although the Lord has said, ' lay not up for 
yourselves gold or silver, nor two coats,' these, in direct opposi- 
tion, have committed great crimes in regard to the possession of 
things thus prohibited. For we shall show, that those that are 
called martyrs and prophets among them, have derived pecuniary 
gain, not only from the wealthy, but from the poor, and from 
widows and orphans, and if they have any confidence (of inno- 
cence) in this, let them stand and settle these matters w ith us ; so 
that if they are convicted, they may abandon their misdemea- 
nours hereafter. 

" The fruits of a prophet must be examined ; for by its fruits 
the tree is known. But that those who wish may understand 
the circumstances respecting this Alexander, he was tried 
by iEmihus Frontinus, the proconsul (of Asia) at Ephesus, not 
for the name (of Christian), but for the robberies which he 
dared to commit, as he had already been a transgressor. — • 

2C 



302 ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 

Then, however, pretending to the name of the Lord, he was 
Hberated, after he had spread his errors among the faithful 
there. But the church of the place whence he sprung would 
not receive him, because he was a robber. Those, however, 
that wish to learn his history, can consult the public archives of 
Asia. And yet the prophet professed to be totally ignorant of 
having lived with him many years ; but by refuting him, through 
him, we also overturn the pretensions of the prophet. The same 
thing could be shown in many others, and if they have the 
courage let them undergo the test of argument." In another part 
of the same work, he adds the following, respecting their boasted 
prophets : " If," says he, " they deny that their prophets took 
presents, let them at least acknowledge, that, if they should be 
proved to have received them, they are no prophets. And of 
these matters we will furnish a thousand proofs. But it is ne- 
cessary that all the fruits of a prophet should be examined. Tell 
me, does a prophet dye (his hair) ? Does a prophet stain (his 
eyelids) ? Does a prophet dehght in ornament ? Does a pro- 
phet play with tablets and dice ? Does he take usury ? Let 
them first acknowledge these things, whether they are right or 
not ; and I will show that they have been done by them." 

This same Apollonius relates, in the same work, that it was 
forty years from the time that Montanus undertook his pretended 
prophecy down to the period when he wrote his work. And 
again he says, that Zoticus, who was also mentioned by the for- 
mer historian, when Maximilla was pretending to utter prophe- 
cies at Pepuza, attempted to interfere and reason with the spirit 
by which she was stimulated, but was hindered by those that 
followed her opinions. He mentions, also, a certain Thraseas 
among the martyrs of the times, and also that it was handed 
down by tradition, that our Saviour commanded his disciples not 
to depart from Jerusalem for twelve years. He quotes, also, the 
Revelations of John as testimony ; and relates, also, that a dead 
man was raised by the divine power, through the same John, at 
Ephesus. Many other matters he also states; by which he 
abundantly refutes the error of the abovementioned heresy. — 
These are the matters stated by Apollonius. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 203 

CHAPTER XIX. 

The opinion of Serapion respecting the heresy of the Phrygians. 

Serapion, who is said about this time to have been the bishop of 
the church of Antioch, after Maximinus, has also made mention of 
the writings of Apollinaris against the same heresy. In a private 
letter, which he wrote to Carious and Ponticus, he mentions him, 
and also refutes his heresy in the following words : " But that 
you may also see, that the influence of this lying party of a new 
prophecy, as it is called, is abominated by all the brethren in the 
world, I have also sent you the epistle of Claudius ApolHnaris, 
that most blessed bishop of Hierapolis in Asia." In this same 
epistle of Serapion are also given the subscriptions of several 
bishops. Of whom one wrote as follows : " I, Aurelius Cyrenius, 
a witness, wish you health." Another, as follows : " iElius Pub- 
lius Julius, bishop of Debeltum, a colony of Thrace, as sure^ as 
God lives in the heavens, the blessed Sotas, in Anchialus, wished 
to cast out the daemon from Priscilla, and the hypocrites would 
not suffer him." The signatures of many other bishops who bear 
witness to the facts, are given in their own hand in this epistle. 
And such are the statements referring to these. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The writings of Irenmus against the schismatics at Rome. 

But Irenaeus composed various epistles in opposition to those 
that attempted to disfigure the sound institutions of the church at 
Rome. One addressed to Blastus, On Schism. One to Florinus, 
On Sovereignty, or on the truth that God is not the author of evil : 
for the latter appeared to maintain this opinion. On whose ac- 
count, as he was again on the point of being carried away by the 
Valentinian delusion, Irenaeus also wrote the treatise on the Og- 
doad, or the number eight ; in which book he also shows that he 



204 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

was the first that received the original succession from the apostles. 
There, also, at the close of the work, we found a most delightful 
remark of his, which we shall deem incumbent on us also to add 
to the present work. It is as follows : " I adjure thee, whoever 
thou art, that transcribest this book, by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and by his glorious appearance, when he shall come to judge the 
quick and dead, to compare what thou last copied, and to cor- 
rect it by this original manuscript, from which thou hast care- 
fully transcribed. And that thou also copy this adjuration, and 
insert it in the copy." These things may be profitably read in 
his works, and we hope with equal profit have been related by 
us, that we may have these ancient and truly holy men, as the 
noblest examples before us. In that epistle, indeed, which we 
have already mentioned, and which Irenaeus addressed to Flo- 
rinus, he again speaks of his intimacy with Polycarp. " These 
doctrines," says he, " O Florinus, to say the least, are not of a 
sound understanding. These doctrines are inconsistent with the 
church, and calculated to thrust those that follow them into the 
greatest impiety. These doctrines, not even the heretics out of 
the church ever attempted to assert. These doctrines were 
never delivered to thee by the presbyters before us, those who 
also were the immediate disciples of the apostles. For I saw 
thee when I was yet a boy in the lower Asia with Polycarp, 
moving in great splendour at court, and endeavourning by all 
means to gain his esteem. I remember the events of those times 
much better than those of more recent occurrence. As the 
studies of our youth grovidng with our minds, unite with it so 
firmly that I can tell also the very place where the blessed Poly- 
carp was accustomed to sit and discourse ; and also his en- 
trances, his walks, the complexion of his life and the form of his 
body, and his conversations with the people, and his familiar in- 
tercourse with John, as he was accustomed to tell, as also his 
familiarity with those that had seen he Lord. How also he 
used to relate their discourses, and what things he had heard 
from them concerning the Lord. Also concerning his miracles, 
his doctrine, all these were told by Polycarp, in consistency with 
the holy Scriptures, as he had received them from the eyewit- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 205 

nesses of the doctrine of salvation. These things, by the mercy 
of God, and the opportunity then afforded me, I attentively heard, 
noting them down, not on paper, but in my heart ; and these 
same facts I am always in the habit, by the grace of God, to 
recall faithfully to mind. And I can bear witness in the sight 
of God, that if that blessed and apostolic presbyter had heard 
any such thing as this, he would have exclaimed, and stopped 
his ears, and according to his custom, w^ould have said : " O 
good God, unto what times hast thou reserved me, that I should 
tolerate these things." He would have fled from the place in 
which he had sat or stood, hearing doctrines like these. From his 
epistles, also, which he wrote to the neighbouring churches, in 
order to confirm them, or to some of the brethren in order to ad- 
monish or to exhort them, the same thing may be clearly shown." 
Thus far Irenaeus. 



CHAPTER XXL 

The martyrdom of Apollonius, at Rome. 

About the same period, in the reign of Commodus, our cir- 
cumstances were changed to a milder aspect, as there was peace 
by the grace of God prevailing in the churches throughout the 
whole world. Then also the salutary doctrine brought the minds 
of men from every race on earth, to the devout veneration of 
the Supreme God. So that now, many of those eminent at 
Rome for their wealth and kindred, with their whole house and 
family, yielded to their salvation. But this was not to be easily 
borne by the adversary of all good, that daemon who in his own 
nature is envy itself: for he again prepared for action, and 
commenced plotting various devices against us. He led to the 
tribunal Apollonius, one of the faithful at that day, renowned for 
his learning and wisdom, by stimulating a certain man, well cal- 
culated to be his minister for such a purpose, to bring accusation 
against him. But this miserable instrument, entering upon the 
charge out of season, when such informers were not suffered to 



206 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

live according to the imperial edict, his limbs were immediate- 
ly broken, after Perennis the judge had pronounced the sen- 
tence. But this most approved and divinely favoured martyr, as 
the judge earnestly desired and entreated him to give an account 
of himself before the senate, delivered a most eloquent defence 
of the faith for which he was suffering, in the presence of all, 
terminated his life, by decapitation, according to the decree of the 
senate ; as there was a law of long standing with them, that those 
who had once been led to tria], and that would by no means 
change their purpose, should not be dismissed. But the decla- 
rations of this martyr before the judge, and the answers that he 
gave to the questions of Perennis, and his whole defence before 
the senate, whoever wishes to know, may learn from the narra- 
tives of ancient martyrs collected by us. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

The bishops that flourished at this time. 

In the tenth year of the reign of Commodus, Eleutherus, who 
had held the episcopate for thirteen years, was succeeded by 
Victor. In this year, also, Julianus, who had the episcopal 
charge of the churches at Alexandria ten years, was succeeded 
by Demetrius. At this time, also, was yet living the abovemen- 
tioned Serapion, bishop of Antioch, and the eighth in succession 
from the apostles. At Cesarea, in Palestine, Theophilus presided ; 
and Narcissus, who was mentioned before, had yet at the same 
time the administration of the church in Jerusalem. Bacchyllus 
was then also bishop of Corinth, in Greece, and Polycrates of the 
church at Ephesus, and many others besides these, as is probable, 
were prominent. We have only given the names of those whose 
orthodoxy has descended to us on record. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 207 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

. The question then agitated respecting the passover,* 

There was a considerable discussion raised about this time, 
in consequence of a difference of opinion respecting the observ- 
ance of the paschal season. The churches of all Asia, guided by 
a remoter tradition, supposed that they ought to keep the four- 
teenth day of the moon for the festival of the Saviour's passover, 
in which day the Jews were commanded to kill the paschal lamb ; 
and it was incumbent on them, at all times, to make an end of 
the fast on this day, on whatever day of the week it should hap- 
pen to fall. But as it was not the custom to celebrate it in this 
manner in the churches throughout the rest of the world, who 
observe the practice that has prevailed from apostolic tradition 
until the present time, so that it would not be proper to terminate 
our fast on any other but the day of the resurrection of our Sa- 
viour. Hence there were synods and convocations of the bishops 
on this question ; and all unanimously drew up an ecclesiastical 
decree, which they communicated to all the churches in all places, 
that the mystery of our Lord's resurrection should be celebrated 
on no other day than the Lord's-day ; and that on this day alone 
we should observe the close of the paschal fasts. There is an 
epistleextantevennow, of those who were assembled at the time; 
among whom presided Theophilus, bishop of the church in Ce- 
sarea, and Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem. There is also another 
epistle extant on the same question, bearing the name of Victor. 

* Our English word passover, happily, in sound and sense, almost corresponds 
to the Hebrew nDS, of which it is a translation. Exod. xii. 27. The Greek pascha, 
formed fi-om the Hebrew, is the name of the Jewish festival, apphed invariably in 
the primitive church to designate the festival of the Lord's resurrection, which took 
place at the time of the passover. Our word, Easter, is of Saxon origin, and ot 
precisely the same import with its German cognate Ostern. The latter is derived 
from the old Teutonic form of auferstehn, auferstehung, i. e. resurrection. The 
name Easter, as expressive of meaning, is undoubtedly preferable to pascha or pass- 
over, but the latter was the primitive name. 



208 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

An epistle, also, of the bishops in Pontus, among whom Palmas, 
as the most ancient, presided ; also, of the churches of Gaul, over 
whom Irenseus presided. Moreover, one from those in Osrhoene, 
and the cities there. And a particular epistle from Bacchyllus, 
bishop of the Corinthians ; and epistles of many others, who, ad- 
vancing one and the same doctrine, also passed the same vote. 
And this, their unanimous determination, was the one already 
mentioned. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Tke dissension of the churches in Asia, 

The bishops, however, of Asia, persevering in observing the 
custom handed down to them from their fathers, were headed 
by Polycrates. He, indeed, had also set forth the tradition handed 
down to them, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the 
church of Rome. " We," said he, " therefore, observe the genuine 
day ; neither adding thereto nor taking therefrom. For in Asia 
great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again in the day 
of the Lord's appearing, in which he will come with glory from 
heaven, and will raise up all the saints ; Philip, one of the twelve 
apostles, who sleeps in Hierapolis, and his two aged virgin 
daughters. His other daughter, also, who having lived under 
the influence of the Holy Ghost, now likewise rests in Ephe- 
sus. Moreover, John, who rested upon the bosom of our Lord ; 
who also was a priest, and bore the sacerdotal plate * {7teta?^v) 
both a martyr and teacher. He is buried in Ephesus; also 
Polycarp of Smyrna, both bishop and martyr. Thraseas, also, 
bishop and martyr of Eumenia, who is buried at Smyrna, 
Why should I mention Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who rests at 
Laodicea. Moreover, the blessed Papirius; and Melito, the 
eunuch, whose walk and conversation was altogether under the 

* The sacerdotal plate here mentioned, is not to be understood of the Jewish 
priesthood, for John had no connexion with that. It is probable that he, with 
others, wore a badge like this, as the priests of a better covenant. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.^. 209 

influence of the Holy Spirit, who now rests at Sardis, awaiting 
the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead. 
All these observed the fourteenth day of the passover according 
to the gospel, deviating in no respect, but following the rule of 
faith. Moreover, I, Polycrates, who am the least of all of you, 
according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have 
followed. For there were seven, my relatives bishops, and I am 
the eighth ; and my relatives always observed the day when the 
people (z. e, the Jews) threw away the leaven. I, therefore, bre- 
thren, am now sixty-five years in the Lord, who having conferred 
with the brethren throughout the world, and having studied the 
whole of the sacred Scriptures, am not at all alarmed at those 
things with which I am threatened, to intimidate me. For they 
who are greater than I, have said, ' we ought to obey God rather 
than men.' " After this, he also proceeds to write concerning all 
the bishops that were present, and thought the same with him- 
self: " I could also mention," says he, " the bishops that were 
present, whom you requested to be summoned by me, and whom 
I did call. Whose names, did I write them, would present a 
great number. Who, however, seeing my slender body, con- 
sented to the epistle, well Imowing that I did not bear my gray 
hairs for nought, but that I did at all times regulate my life in 
the Lord Jesus." Upon this, Victor, the bishop of the church of 
Rome, forthwith endeavoured to cut off the churches of all Asia, 
together with the neighbouring churches, as heterodox, from the 
common unity. And he publishes abroad by letters, and pro- 
claims, that all the brethren there are wholly excommunicated. 
But this was not the opinion of all the bishops. They immedi- 
ately exhorted him, on the contrary, to contemplate that course 
that was calculated to promote peace, unity, and love to one an- 
other. 

There are also extant, the expressions they used, who pressed 
upon Victor with much severity. Among these also was Ire- 
naeus, who, in the name of those brethren in Gaul over whom 
he presided, wrote an epistle, in which he maintains the duty of 
celebrating the mystery of the resurrection of our Lord, only on 
the day of the Lord. He becomingly also admonishes Victor, 

2D 



210 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

not to cut off whole churches of God, who observed the tradition 
of an ancient custom. After many other matters urged by him, 
he also adds the following : " For not only is the dispute respect- 
ing the day, but also respecting the manner of fasting. For some 
think, that they ought to fast only one day, some two, some more 
days ; some compute their day as consisting of forty hours night 
and day ; and this diversity existing among those that observe it, 
is not a matter that has just sprung up in our times, but long ago 
among those before us, who perhaps not having ruled with suf- 
ficient strictness, established the practice that arose from their 
simplicity and inexperience. And yet with all, these maintained 
peace, and we have maintained peace with one another ; and 
the very difference in our fasting establishes the unanimity in our 
faith." To these he also adds a narrative, which I may here 
appropriately insert. It is as follows : " And those presbyters 
who governed the church before Soter, and over which you now 
preside, I mean Anicetus and Pius, Hyginus with Telesphorus 
and Xystus, neither did themselves observe, not did they permit 
those after them to observe it. And yet, though they themselves 
did not keep it, they were not the less on peace with those from 
churches where it was kept, whenever they came to them ; al- 
though to keep it then was so much the more in opposition to 
those who did not.* Neither at any time did they cast off any 
merely for the sake of the form. But those very presbyters be- 
fore thee, who did not observe it, sent the eucharistf to those of 
churches who did. And when the. blessed Polycarp went to 
Rome, in the time of Anicetus, and they had a little difference 
am.ong themselves likewise respecting other matters, they im- 
mediately were reconciled, not disputing much with one another 
on this head. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not 
to observe it, because he had always observed it with John the 

* The meaning of this passage, if it has any obscurity, is, that the act of observing 
and celebrating, was a more decided attitude of opposition^ in the very face of the 
church that did not observe the festival at this time. And that the western church 
bore with this, is here adduced as proof of the love and unity prevaiUng in the 
churches. 

t The bishops were accustomed at Easter to send the eucharist to one another. 



T^B^ 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.^ 211 

disciple of our Lord, and the rest of the apostles, with whom he 
associated ; and neither did Polycarp persuade Anicetus to ob- 
serve, who said that he was bound to maintain the practice of 
the presbyters before him. Which things being so, they com- 
muned with each other ; and in the church, Anicetus yielded to 
Polycarp, out of respect no doubt, the office of consecrating, and 
they separated from each other in peace, all the church being at 
peace ; both those that observed and those that did not observe, 
maintaining peace. And this same Irenaeus, as one whose cha- 
racter answered well to his name, being in this way a peace- 
maker, exhorted and negociated such matters as these for the 
peace of the churches. And not only to Victor, but likewise to 
the most of the other rulers of the churches, he sent letters of ex- 
hortation on the agitated question. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

All agree to one opinion respecting the passover. 

The bishops indeed of Palestine, whom we have just men- 
tioned. Narcissus and Theophilus, and Cassius with them, the 
bishop of the church at Tyre, and Clarus of Ptolemais, and those 
that came together with them, having advanced many things 
respecting the tradition that had been handed down to them by 
succession from the apostles, regarding the passover, at the close 
of the epistle, use these words : " Endeavour to send copies of 
the epistle through all the church, that we may not give occasion 
to those whose minds are easily led astray. But y^^e inform you 
also, that they observe the same day at Alexandria, which we 
also do ; for letters have been sent by us to them, and from them 
to us, so that we celebrate the holy season with one mind and at 
one time." 



212 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The elegant works of Irenceus that have come down to us. 

Besides the works and epistles of Irenaeus abovementioned, 
there is a certain very brief and most important discourse by him 
On Knowledge, against the Greeks ; another also, which he dedi- 
cated to his brother named Marcion, as a proof of the apostolic 
preaching ; a book also of various disputes, in which he mentions 
the Epistle to the Hebrews ; and the book called the Wisdom of 
Solomon, quoting certain passages from them. These are the 
works of Irenaeus that have come down to us. But after Com- 
modus had ended his reign in the thirteenth year, and Pertinax 
had held the government not quite six months, Severus was 
created emperor, and ruled the state. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

The works of others that flourished at the time. 

Numerous works, indeed, of ancient ecclesiastical writers are 
still preserved by many, the monijiments of a virtuous industry. 
Those which we would select of them, might be the commenta- 
ries of Heraclitus On the Apostle ; the works of Maximus, also, 
on that question so much agitated among the heretics, The Origin 
of Evil; also. On the Creation of Matter. Also, the works of 
Candidus On the Hexaemeron.* And Apion's work on the same 
subject. Sextus, also. On the Resurrection, and a certain other 
treatise of Arabianus, with many others, of whom, as we have 
no data, we can neither insert the times nor any extracts in our 
history. Innumerable others there also are, that have come 
down to us, even the names of whom it would be impossible to 
give. All of these were orthodox and ecclesiastical writers, as 

* The Greek name, designating the six days of the creation. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 213 

the interpretation which each gives of the sacred Scriptures 
shows ; yet they are not known to us, because the works them 
selves do not give their authors. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 



Those that followed the heresy of Artemon, in the beginning. 
Their character and conduct; and their attempt at corrupting 
the Scriptures. 

In a work written by a certain one of these authors against 
the heresy of Artemon, which Paul of Samosata again attempt- 
ed to revive among us, there is a narrative well adapted to the 
history we are now investigating. This writer, not long since, in 
refuting the heresy mentioned, which asserts that Christ is a mere 
man, since its leaders wish to boast as if it were the ancient doc- 
trine, besides many other arguments that he adduces in refuta- 
tion of their impious falsehood, he gives the following account : 
" For they assert," says he, " that all those primitive men and 
the apostles themselves, both received and taught these things as 
they are now taught by them, and that the truth of the gospel 
was preserved until the times of Victor, who was the thirteenth 
bishop of Rome from Peter. But that from his successor Zephy- 
rinus, the truth was mutilated. And perchance what they say 
might be credible, were it not that the holy Scriptures contra- 
dict them ; and then, also, there are works of certain brethren 
older than Victor's times, which they wrote in defence of the 
truth, and against the heresies then prevailing. I speak of Justus 
and Miltiades, and Tatian and Clement, and many others, in all 
which the divinity of Christ is asserted. For who knows not the 
works of Irenaeus and Melito, and the rest, in which Christ is an- 
nounced as God and man ? Whatever psalms and hymns were 
written by the brethren from the beginning, celebrate Christ the 
word of God, by asserting his divinity. How then could it hap- 
pen, that since the doctrine of the church has been proclaimed 
for so many years, that those until the times of Victor, preached 



214 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the gospel after this manner ? And how are they so devoid of 
shame to utter these falsehoods against Victor, well knowing that 
Victor excommunicated that currier Theodotus, the leader and 
father of this God-denying apostacy, as the first one that asserted 
Christ was a mere man. For had Victor entertained the senti- 
ments which their impious doctrine promulgates, how could he 
have expelled Theodotus, the inventor of this heresy?" Thus 
much with respect to Victor. But after this author had super- 
intended the church, Zephyrinus was appointed his successor 
ahout the ninth year of the reign of Severus. The same author 
that composed the book already mentioned respecting the founder 
of this heresy, also adds an account of another event that occur- 
red in the times of Zephyrinus, in these words : " I shall remind 
many of the brethren of a fact," says he, " that happened in our 
days, which, had it happened in Sodom, I think would have led 
them to reflection. There was a certain Natalius, who lived not 
in remote times, but in our own. This man was seduced on a 
certain occasion by Asclepiodotus, and another Theodotus, a 
moneychanger. Both of these were disciples of Theodotus the 
^^ currier, the first that had been excommunicated by Victor, then 
bishop, as before said, on account of this opinion or rather insanity. 
Natalius was persuaded by them to be created a bishop of this 
heresy, with a salary from them of one hundred and fifty denarii 
a month. Being connected, therefore, w^ith them, he was fre- 
quently brought to reflection by the Lord in his dreams. For 
the merciful God and our Lord Jesus Christ, would not that he 
who had been a witness of his own sufferings, should perish, 
though he was out of the church. But as he paid but httle at- 
tention to these visions, being ensnared both by the desire of pre- 
siding among them, and that foul gain which destroys so many, he 
was finally lashed by holy angels, through the whole night, and 
was thus most severely punished ; so that he arose early in the 
morning, and putting on sackcloth and covered with ashes, in 
great haste, and bathed in tears, he fell down before Zephyrinus 
the bishop, rolling at the feet not only of the clergy but even of 
the laity, and thus moved the compassionate church of Christ 
with his tears. And, although he implored their clemency with 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 215 

much earnestness, and pointed to the strokes of the lashes he had 
received, he was at last scarcely admitted to communion." To 
this, we will also add other extracts from the same writer respect- 
ing this sect: "The sacred Scriptures," says he, "have been 
boldly perverted by them ; the rule of the ancient faith they 
have set aside, Christ they have renounced, not inquiring what 
the holy Scriptures declared, but zealously labouring v/hat form 
of reasoning may be devised to establish their impiety. And 
should any one present a passage of divine truth, they examined 
first whether a connected or disjoined form of syllogism* can be 
formed from it. But they abandon the holy Scriptures for the 
study of geometry ,-[■ as being of the earth they talk of the earth, 
and know not him that cometh from above. Euclid, therefore, 
is industriously measuredj by them. Aristotle and Theophrastus, 
are also admired, and as to Galen, he is even perhaps worshipped 
by some. But as to these men who abuse the acts of the unbe- 
lievers, to their own heretical views, and who adulterate the 
simplicity of that faith contained in the holy Scriptures, by the 
wily arts of impious men; where is the necessity of asserting 
that they are not right in the faith ? For this purpose they fear- 
lessly lay their hands upon the holy Scriptures, saying that they 
have corrected them. And that I do not say this against them 

* Logicians call the syllogisms here spoken of, hypothetical and disjunctive. In 
the former, the premises are supposed ; in the latter, they are separated by a dis- 
junctive conjunction, whence their names. 

■f The author whose words are here quoted, plays upon the word geometry, in 
its original. The word literally means earth or land-measuring. The science 
appears to owe its origin to the necessity of frequently measuring the lands in 
Egypt, after the inimdations of the Nile ; and when reduced to its more abstract 
principles, it still continued to bear its original name. The author here quoted 
seems to reprove, in these men, an absorbing devotedness to a science, the study 
of wliich is doubtless a powerful auxiliary in disciplining the human mind, inde- 
pendently of its practical utiHty. It was considered so important a preparatory 
disciphne among the ancients, that the words ouS's*? «y£a;^sTp>)Tos wSi Bi<rsKd>i were 
written over the gates of their philosophical schools. 

t Measured.] Another play upon the word geometry, the force of which is 
entirely lost in a translation. The author had already hinted that this was only 
an earthly study; and now he sarcastically remarks, Euclid is earth measured by 
them. 



216 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

without foundation, whoever wishes may learn ; for should any 
one collect and compare their copies one with another, he would 
find them greatly at variance among themselves. For the 
copies of Asclepiodotus will be found to difier from those of 
Theodotus. Copies of many you may find in abundance, al- 
tered, by the eagerness of their disciples to insert each one his 
own corrections, as they call them, i. e. their corruptions. Again, 
the copies of Hermophilus do not agree with these, for those of 
Appollonius are not consistent with themselves. For one may 
compare those which were prepared before by them, with those 
which they afterwards perverted for their own objects, and you 
will find them widely differing. But what a stretch of audacity 
this aberration indicates, it is hardly probable themselves can be 
ignorant For either they do not believe that the holy Scriptures 
were uttered by the holy Spirit, and they are thus infidels, or they 
deem themselves wiser than the holy Spirit, and what alternative 
is there but to pronounce them daemoniacs? For neither can they 
deny that they have been guilty of the daring act, when the 
copies were written with their own hand, nor did they receive 
such Scriptures from those by whom they were instructed in the 
elements of the faith ; nor can they show copies from which they 
were transcribed. But some of them did not even deign, or 
think it worth while, to mutilate the Scriptures, but directly de- 
nying the law and the prophets by their lawless and impious 
doctrine, under the pretext of grace, they sunk down to the low- 
est depths of perdition." But let this suffice on this subject. 



BOOK VI. 

CHAPTER I. 

The persecution under Severus, 

But when Severus raised a persecution against the churches, 
there were illustrious testimonies given by the combatants of re- 
ligion in all the churches every where. They particularly 
abounded in Alexandria, whilst the heroic wrestlers from Egypt 
and Thebais were escorted thither as to a mighty theatre of 
God, where, by their invincible patience under various tortures 
and modes of death, they were adorned with crowns from 
heaven. Among these was Leonides, said to be the father of 
Origen, who was beheaded, and left his son behind yet very 
young. His early predilection for the divine word, as instructed 
by his father, it is not out of place here briefly to state, so much 
the more especially as his fame is celebrated by many. 



CHAPTER II. 

The education of Origen, from his earliest youth. 

One might, indeed, say much in attempting to write the life 
of the man at school, for the subject respecting him would require 
a particular and separate work. Nevertheless, for the pre- 
sent, we shall endeavour by abridging the most of the materials, 
as briefly as possible to relate some few events respecting him, 
and adduce the facts from certain epistles and histories which 
have come down to our own day, by those of his familiar friends 
who are yet living. The life of Origen, indeed, appears to me 
worthy of being recorded, even from his tender infancy. It was 

2E 217 



218 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

in the tenth year of the reign of Severus, when Alexandria and 
the rest of Egypt was under the government of his viceroy Lae- 
tus, and the churches there were under the episcopal administra- 
tion of Demetrius, the successor of Julian, that the kindled flame 
of persecution blazed forth mightily, and many thousands were 
crowned with martyrdom. 

It was then, too, that the love of martyrdom so powerfully 
seized the soul of Origen, though yet an almost infant boy, that 
he advanced so close to encounter danger, and was eager to 
leap forward and rush upon the conflict. And indeed, there had 
been now but little wanting, and the termination of his hfe had 
not been far off, unless the heavenly providence *of God for the 
benefit of vast numbers, had, by means of his mother, interposed 
an impediment to his eager desire. She, indeed, at first, im- 
plored and entreated him to spare a mother's tenderness regard- 
ing him, but seeing him only the more vehemently bent upon it, 
as he understood that his father was taken and kept a prisoner, 
and he was wholly borne away by the desire of becoming a mar- 
tyr, his mother concealed his clothes in order to compel him 
to remain at home. But when he saw that there was no other 
course for him to pursue, as his great zeal was far beyond his 
years, he could not remain inactive, but sent to his father a most 
encouraging letter on martyrdom, in which he encourages him, 
saying, " take heed, (father) not to change thy mind on account 
of us." This may serve as the first specimen that we mention 
of Origen's shrewdness, and his genuine devotedness to piety. 
For he had even then made no little progress in the doctrine of 
faith, as he had been conversant with the holy Scriptures even 
when a child. He had been considerably trained in them by his 
father, who, besides the study of the liberal sciences, had also 
carefully stored his mind with these. First of all, therefore, be- 
fore he studied the Grecian literature, he led him to frequent ex- 
ercise in the study of sacred things, appointing him to commit 
and repeat some passages every day ; and these things were not 
unwiUingly done by the child, but studies most cheerfully per- 
formed with great diligence. So that it was not sufficient for 
him merely to read what was simple and obvious in the sacred 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, 219 

books, but he sought also what was beyond this, into the deeper 
senses of the text, and was busily employed in such speculations 
even at that age ; so that he gave his father trouble, by his ques- 
tions w^hat forsooth the passage of the inspired Scriptures should 
mean. He, indeed, to appearance, rebuked him to his face, tell- 
ing him not to inquire into things beyond his age, nor to search 
beyond the obvious meaning of Scriptures. But he, greatly de- 
lighted in his own mind, gave most hearty thanks to Almighty 
God, the author of all good, that he had honoured him to be the 
father of such a child. And they say, that frequently, when 
standing over his sleeping boy, he would uncover his breast, and 
as a shrine consecrated by the divine Spirit, he reverently kissed 
it and congratulated himself upon his favoured offspring. These 
and other similar circumstances are related of Origen when yet 
a boy. But now, as his father had ended his days a martyr, he is 
left in this bereaved condition wdth his mother and younger 
brothers, in number six, when he was yet in his seventeenth year. 
And as his father's property was forfeited to the imperial trea- 
sury, he was reduced with his relatives to great straits for the 
necessaries of life. But he was honoured with a provision from 
God. For he found a kind reception and retreat with a certain 
lady of great wealth and distinction ; but who at the same time 
patronized a certain celebrated man who was an advocate of the 
heretics then existing in Alexandria. This man was a native of 
Antioch, and was taken home bjr the lady as an adopted son, and 
was treated with the greatest kindness by her. But as Origen 
thus necessarily associated with him, he thenceforth gave him 
strong specimens of his orthodox faith. As great numbers not 
only of heretics but^r^also, induced by the apparent eloquence 
of the man, coUectecRo hear this Paul, for that was his name, 
he could never be induced to join with him in prayer, observing 
even from a boy that rule of the church, and as he himself says, 
somewhere, abominating the inculcation of heretical doctrines. 
But as he had been instructed by his father in Greek literature, 
and after his death devoted himself more ardently to the sole 
study of literature, so that he acquired a tolerable acquaintance 
with philology, he devoted himself not long after his father's 



- jit^ 



220 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

death to this study, and young as he was, he thus acquired sul- 
ficient to supply his necessary wants in abundance. 



CHAPTER III. 

When a very young man he preached the Gospel. 

But whilst he was thus engaged with his school where he 
abode, as he somewhere states, and there was no one at Alexan- 
dria that applied himself to give instruction in the principles of the 
faith, but all driven away by the threatening aspect of persecution, 
some of the Gentiles came to him with a mind to hear the word of 
God. The first of whom, he states, was Plutarch ; who, after a 
life of piety, was also crowned with divine martyrdom. The 
second Was Heraclas,the brother of Plutarch, who, indeed, having 
given abundant proof of a life of retired contemplation and dis- 
cipline, was deemed worthy of the episcopate of Alexandria after 
Demetrius. But he was in his eighteenth year when he conducted 
the school for elementary instruction in the faith, in which also 
he made great proficiency under the persecutions of Aquila go- 
vernor of Alexandria; where, also, he obtained a celebrated 
name with all the believers, on account of that cordiality and 
promptness which he exhibited to all the martyrs, whether known 
to him or not. For not only was he with them when in bonds, 
nor only until the last of their trial at the tribunal ; but, even 
after this, when led away to die, he conversed freely with these 
holy martyrs, and advanced in the face ^f^wiger. So, that as he 
boldly proceeded, and with great freedom saluted the brethren 
with a kiss, the infuriate multitude who stood around had more 
than once almost overwhelmed him (with stones), had he not this 
once experienced the helping hand of God, and wonderfully es- 
caped. But this same celestial grace, at one time and another, 
again and again, and indeed no one can tell how often, in conse- 
quence of his great zeal for the doctrine of Christ, and his fear- 
lessness, as often protected him in danger. So great, indeed, was 



%»%ii^ - 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 221 

the hostility of the unbelievers to him, that they formed them- 
selves into companies, to station soldiers about the house where 
he abode, on account of the numbers that were instructed by 
him in the principles of the faith. But the persecution against 
him daily blazed forth with such virulence, that the whole city 
of Alexandria could no longer contain him, as he removed from 
house to house, driven about in every direction, on account of the 
great number of those that had been brought over by him to the 
true faith, since also his daily actions afforded admirable specimens 
of a conduct resulting from a sound philosophy. For, " as his 
doctrine, say they, so was his Ufe ; and as his Hfe, so also was his 
doctrine." Wherefore, also, with the divine assistance, he in- 
duced numbers to imitate him. But when he saw a greater 
number of pupils coming, the instruction of them having been 
committed to him entirely by Demetrius the bishop of the church, 
he thought that to teach literature exclusively* was inconsistent 
with the study of divine truth, and without delay abandoned the 
school of philosophy, as useless, and an obstruction to his sacred 
studies. Then, also, with a becoming consideration that he might 
not stand in need of aid from others, he disposed of whatsoever 
works he had formerly written on ancient works, and composed 
with great elegance and taste, and was content with receiving four 
oboli t the day from the purchaser. Many years he continued 
to lead this life of philosophy,! completely removing all the in- 
centives to youthful passions from him, during the whole day 

* Literature exclusively. '\ We have added the word exclusively as the obvious 
meaning. Origen could not, veithout great inconsistency, consider the business of 
literary instruction as hostile to the study of divine things, nor does this appear to 
have been his opinion. BuTthe exclusive occupation of such a teacher in his re- 
lative situation was incompatible with a higher duty. We have also rendered 
ypa/i^«Tixo( xoyoi, contrary to our predecessors, by the terms literature and philo- 
logy. Others render grammar, but seem to have overlooked the fact, that the 
terms, beside the grammatical study of a language, also comprehended the whole 
compass of philology and the belles lettres. 

f OboU.] The obolus was a small coin, about two or three cents In value. 

t Philosophy.] Our author uses this word, when appUed to the primitive Christ- 
ians, in a practical sense, indicating the austerity of life and self-denial which they 
exercised. 



222 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

undergoing no trifling amount of laborious exercise, and at night 
devoting himself the most of the time to the study of the holy- 
Scriptures, and restraining himself, as far as possible, hy a most 
rigid and philosophical Hfe. Sometimes he was exercised in the 
discipline of fasting ; then, again, at night, he limited his times 
for sleep, which, in consequence of his great zeal, he never en- 
joyed on his bed, but upon the bare ground. But, most of all, he 
thought that the evangelical precepts of our Saviour should be 
observed, in which he exhorts that we should not have two coats, 
nor make use of shoes, nor pass our time in cares for the future. 
But indulging, also, an ardour greater than his years, he perse- 
vered in cold and nakedness ; and advancing to the greatest ex- 
tremes of poverty, astonished, most of all, his nearest friends. 
Many, indeed, that wished to impart to him some of their means, 
were grieved on account of the laborious toil that he endured for 
the sake of inspired truth. He did not, however, relax in his 
perseverance. He is said, indeed, to have walked the ground 
for many years without any shoes ; and also to have abstained 
from the use of wine and other food not necessary for sustenance, 
many years. So that-now he was greatly in danger of subvert- 
ing and destroying his constitution.* But in presenting such 
specimens of his ascetic hfe to the beholders, he naturally in- 
duced many of his visiters to pursue the same course ; so that 
now many, both of the unbelieving heathen, and some of the 
learned, and even philosophers of no mean account, were pre- 
vailed upon to adopt his doctrine. Some of these, also, having 
been deeply imbued by him, with the sound faith in Christ deeply 
implanted in the soul, were also eminent in the midst of the per- 
secution then prevailing ; so that some w^ taken, and finished 
their course by martyrdom. 

* The word used here is ^«p«^, the chest. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY- 223 

CHAPTER IV. 

The number of his catechumens that suffered martyrdom. 

Of these, then, the first was that Plutarch, mentioned above, 
at whose martyrdom when led away to die, the same Origen 
of whom we are now speaking, being present with him to the 
last of his life, was nearly slain by his own countrymen, as if he 
were the cause of his death. But the providence of God pre- 
served him likewise then. But after Plutarch, the second of 
Origen's disciples that was selected, was Severus, who presented 
in the fire, a proof of that unshaken faith which he had received. 
The third that appeared as martyr from the same school, was 
Heraclides ; and the fourth, after him, was Heron : both of these 
were beheaded. Besides these, the fifth of this school that was 
announced a champion for religion, was another Severus, who, 
after a long series of tortures, is said to have been beheaded. 
Of women, also, Herais, who was yet a catechumen, and, as 
Origen himself expresses it, after receiving her baptism by fire, 
departed this hfe. 



CHAPTER V. 

Of Potamicena. 



But, among these, Basilides must be numbered the seventh ; he 
who led away the celebrated Potamiasna to execution, concerning 
whom many traditions are still circulated abroad among the inha- 
bitants of the place, of the innumerable conflicts she endured for 
the preservation of her purity and chastity, in which indeed she 
was eminent. For, besides the perfections of her mind, she was 
blooming also in the maturity of personal attractions. Many 
things are also related of her fortitude in suffering for faith in 
Christ ; and, at length, after horrible tortures and pains, the very 
relation of which makes one shudder, she was, with her mother 



224 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Macella, committed to the flames. It is said, indeed, chat div 
judge, Aquila by name, after having applied the severest tortures 
to her on every part of her body, at last threatened that he 
would give her body to be abused by the gladiators ; but that she, 
having considered the matter a little, after being asked what she 
would determine, made such a reply as made it appear that she 
uttered something deemed impious with them. Immediately, 
therefore, receiving the sentence of condemnation, she was led 
away to die by Basilides, one of the officers in the army. But 
when the multitude attempted to assault and insult her with 
abusive language, he, by keeping off) restrained their insolence ; 
exhibiting the greatest compassion and kindness to her. Per- 
ceiving the man's sympathy, she exhorts him to be of good cheer, 
for that after she was gone she would intercede for him with her 
Lord, and it would not be long before she would reward him for 
his kind deeds towards her. Saying this, she nobly sustained 
the issue ; having boiling pitch poured over different parts of her 
body, gradually by little and little, from her feet up to the crown 
of her head. And such, then, was the conflict which this noble 
virgin endured. But not long after, Basilides, being urged to 
swear on a certain occasion by his fellow-soldiers, declared that 
it was not lawful for him to swear at all ; for he was a Christian, 
and this he plainly professed. At first, indeed, they thought that 
he was thus far only jesting ; but as he constantly persevered 
in the assertion, he was conducted to the judge, before whom, 
confessing his determination, he was committed to prison. But 
when some of the brethren came to see him, and inquired the 
cause of this sudden and singular resolve, he is said to have de- 
clared, that Potamiaena, indeed for the three days after her mar- 
tyrdom, standing before him at night, placed a crown upon his 
head, and said that she had entreated the Lord on his account, 
and she had obtained her prayer, and that ere long she would 
take him with her. On this, the brethren gave him the seal * 
in the Lord ; and he, bearing a distinguished testimony to the 

* Our author here means baptism, which, in the primitive church, was some- 
times thus figuratively called. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 225 

Lord, was beheaded. Many others, also, of those at Alexandria, 
are recorded as having promptly attached themselves to the doc- 
trine of Christ in these times; and this by reason of Potamiaena, 
who appeared in dreams, and exhorted many to embrace the di- 
vine word. But of these let this suffice. 



CHAPTER VL 

Clement of Alexandria. 



Clement having succeeded Pantaenus in the office of elemen- 
tary instruction, had charge of it until tliis time ; so that Origen, 
whilst yet a boy, was one of his pupils. Clement, in the first book 
of the work that he wrote, called Stromata, gives us a chronolo- 
gical deduction of events down to the death of Conmiodus. So 
that it is evident these works were written in the reign of Severus, 
whose times we are now recording. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The historian Judas, 



At this time, also, another historian, discoursing on the seventy 
wrecks of Daniel, extends his chronology down to the tenth year 
of the reign of Severus, who also thought that the appearance 
of antichrist, so much in the mouths of men, was now fully at 
hand. So mightily did the agitation of persecution, then prevail- 
ing, shake the minds of many. 



2F 



226 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The resolute act of Origen, 

Whilst at this time Origen was performing the office of an 
elementary instructor at Alexandria, he also carried a deed into 
effect, which would seem, indeed, rather to proceed from a youth- 
ful understanding not yet matured ; at the same time, however, 
exhibiting the strongest proof of his faith and continence. For 
understanding this expression, " There are eunuchs who have 
made themselves such (who have acted the eunuch) for the sake 
of the kingdom of heaven," in too literal and puerile a sense, and 
at the same time thinking that he would fulfil the words of our 
Saviour, whilst he also wished to preclude the unbelievers from 
all occasions of foul slander, it being necessary for him, young as 
he wasj to converse on divine truth not only with men but with 
females also, he was led on to fulfil the words of our Saviour by 
his deeds, expecting that it would not be known to the most of 
his friends. But it was impossible for him, much as he wished 
it, to conceal such an act. And when it was at last ascertained 
by Demetrius, the bishop of the church there, well did he admire 
the courage of the deed ; and perceiving the ardour, and the 
soundness of his faith, he immediately exhorts him to cherish con- 
fidence ; and at this time, indeed, urges him the more to continue 
in his work of instruction. Such, indeed, was his conduct then. 
But not long after this, the same Demetrius, seeing him doing 
well, great and illustrious, and celebrated among all, was over- 
come by human infirmity, and wrote against him to the bishops 
throughout the world, and attempted to traduce what he had 
done as a most absurd act. Then, as the most distinguished 
bishops of Palestine, and those of Cesarea and Jerusalem, judged 
Origen worthy of the first and highest honour, they ordained him 
to the presbytery by the imposition of hands. He advanced^ 
therefore, at this time, to great reputation, and obtained a cele- 
brity among all men, and no little renown for his virtue and 
wisdom ; but Demetrius, though he had no other charge to urge 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOHY. 227 

than that act which was formerly done by him when hut a boy, 
raised a violent accusation against him. He attempted, also, to 
involve those in his accusations who had elevated him to the pres- 
bytery. These things were done a long time after. But Origen 
performed, without fear, his labours of instruction at Alexandria, 
night and day, to all that came ; devoting the whole of his leisure 
incessantly to the study of divine things, and to those that fre- 
quented his school. In the meanwhile, Severus, having held the 
government about eighteen years, was succeeded by his son An- 
toninus. At this time, one of those that had courageously en- 
dured the persecution, and who, by the providence of God, had 
been preserved after the persecution, was Alexander, who we 
have already shown was bishop of the church at Jerusalem, and 
had been deemed worthy of this episcopate, on account of his 
distinguished firmness in his confession of Christ during the perse- 
cution. This happened whilst Narcissus w^as yet living. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The miracle of Narcissus. 



Many miracles are attributed to Narcissus by his countrymen, 
as they received the tradition handed down from the brethren. 
Among these they relate a w^onderful event like the following. 
About the great watch of the passover, they say, that whilst the 
deacons were keeping the vigils the oil failed them ; upon which 
all the people being very much dejected. Narcissus commanded 
the men that managed the lights to draw water from a neigh- 
bouring well, and to bring it to him. He having done it as soon 
as said. Narcissus prayed over the water, and then commanded 
them in a firm faith in Christ, to pour it into the lamps. When 
they had also done this, contrary to all natural expectation, by 
an extraordinary and divine influence, the nature of the water 
was changed into the quaUty of oil, and by most of the brethren 
a small quantity was preserved from that time until our own, as a 
specimen of the wonder then performed. They relate also many 



228 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

other matters worthy of note respecting the Hfe of this man. 
Among these, such as the following. Certain fellows not being 
able to endure the firm and constant character of his life, fearing 
also lest they should be taken and punished for the numerous 
crimes of which they were conscious, endeavoured to anticipate 
him, by plotting an artifice against him.* They gave currency 
therefore to a foul slander against him. Then, in order to make 
the hearers believe, they confirmed their accusations with oaths : 
and one of them swore that he might perish with fire ; another that 
his body might be wasted with a miserable and foul disease ; a 
third that he should be deprived of his eyes ; but notwithstanding 
their oaths, none of the faithful heeded them, on account of the 
well known continent and virtuous life which Narcissus had al- 
ways led. Unable, however, to endure the wickedness of these 
men, and having besides already long before embraced a life of con- 
templation, he ran away from the body of the church, and con- 
tinued many years concealed in deserts and trackless wilds. But the 
omnipotent eye of justice did not remain inactive in the midst of 
these things ; but soon descended with his judgments upon the 
impious wretches, and bound them with the curses they had 
invoked. The first indeed, in consequence of a light spark fall- 
ing upon his habitation without any apparent cause, was burnt 
with his whole family. The next was forthwith covered with 
the disease which he had imprecated upon himself, from the ex- 
tremity of his feet to the top of his head. But the third, per- 
ceiving the events of the former two, and dreading the inevitable 
judgment of the all-seeing God, confessed indeed to all the 
slander which had been concocted in common among them. But 
he was so wasted with excessive grieving, and so incessantly dif- 
fused with tears, that at last both his eyes were destroyed. And 
these suffered the punishment due to their calumnies. 

* The meaning is, that Narcissus was so rigid in his discipUne, that these slan- 
derers could not bear his uniform and exemplary life, whilst they were also afraid 
of detection and punishment for their own crimes. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 229 

CHAPTER X. 

The bishops in Jerusalem. 

Narcissus having retired from the world, and no one knowing 
whither he had gone, it seemed proper to the bishops of the neigh- 
bouring churches, to proceed to the ordination of another bishop. 
Dius was his name, who, after presiding over the church a short 
time, was succeeded by Germanio, and he by Gordius, in whose 
times Narcissus appearing again as one raised from the dead, was 
entreated by the brethren to undertake the episcopate again ; ail 
admiring him stiE more, both for his retired life, and his philoso- 
phy, and above all on account of the punishment inflicted by God 
upon his slanderers. 



CHAPTER XL 

Of Alexander. 



But as on account of his extreme age, he was now no longer 
able to perform the duties of his office, by a divine dispensation 
revealed in a dream at night, the abovementioned Alexander, 
who was bishop of another church, was called to the office at 
the same time with Narcissus. Influenced by this, as if an oracle 
from God had commanded him, he performed a journey from 
Cappadocia, where he was first made bishop, to Jerusalem, in 
consequence of a vow and the celebrity of the place. Whilst 
he was there, most cordially entertained by the brethren, who 
would not sufier him to return home, another revelation also ap- 
peared to them at night, and uttered a most distinct communica- 
tion to those that were eminent for a devoted life. This commu- 
nication was, that by going forth beyond the gates, they should 
receive the bishop pointed out to them by God. Having done 
this, with the common consent of the bishops of the neighbouring 
churches, they constrain him to stay among them. Alexander, 



230 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

indeed, himself in his particular epistles to the Antinoites, which 
are still preserved anaong us, makes mention of the episcopal 
office as shared by himself with Narcissus, in the following 
words, at the end of the epistle : " Narcissus salutes you, the 
same who before me held the episcopate here, and is now col- 
leagued with me in prayers, being now advanced to his hundred 
and tenth year, and who with me exhorts you to be of one mind." 
Such, then, were these events. But Serapion dying at Antioch, 
he was succeeded by Asclepiades; he also, was distinguished 
among the confessions* in the persecution. His consecration is 
also mentioned by Alexander, who writes to the inhabitants of 
Antioch thus : " Alexander, a servant and prisoner of Jesus 
Christ, sends, greeting, in the Lord, to the blessed church at An- 
tioch, in the Lord. The Lord has made my bonds easy and 
light during the time of my imprisonment, since I have ascer- 
tained, that by divine Providence, Asclepiades, who in regard to 
his faith is most happily qualified, has undertaken the trust of 
the episcopate of your holy church." This same epistle inti- 
mates, that he sent it by Clement, writing at the end of it, as fol- 
lows : " This epistle, my brethren, I have sent to you by Clement, 
the blessed presbyter, a man endued with all virtue, and well 
approved, whom you already know, and will learn still more to 
know ; who, also, coming hither, by the providence and superin- 
tendence of the Lord, has confirmed and increased the church 
of God." 

* The primitive church, as is evident from our author, distinguished a confession 
from martyrdom. The former impHed all sufferings and trials for the sake of re- 
ligion, except the loss of life. The latter w^as attended with this also. Hence, the 
latter was regarded as the highest grade of confession, and as such the martyr, in 
contradistinction to the confessor, was said to be perfected. The expression, there- 
fore, to be perfected, often occurs in our author, in the sense of being put to death. 
This remark will explain the expression as it occurs sometimes in the book of 
martyrs. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 231 

CHAPTER XIL 

Serapion, and the writings ascribed to Mm. 

Serapion, however, it is probable, has left many monuments 
of his application to learning, which are preserved by others ; but 
only those that are addressed to Domninus have come down to 
us. He was one of those that had fallen away from the faith, 
at the time of the persecution, and relapsed into Jewish supersti- 
tion. Those epistles, also, that he addressed to Pontus and Cari- 
ous, ecclesiastical writers, and many others to others. There is 
also another work composed by him on the gospel of Peter, as it 
is called ; which, indeed, he wrote to refute the false assertions 
which it contains, an account of some in the church of Rhosse,* 
who by this work were led astray to perverted doctrines. From 
which it may be well to add some brief extracts, by which it 
may be seen what he thought of the book : — 

" We, brethren," says he, " receive Peter and the other apos- 
tles as Christ himself. But those writings which falsely go under 
their name, as we are well acquainted with them, we reject, and 
know also, that we have not received such handed down to us. 
But when I came to you, I had supposed that all held to the true 
faith ; and as I had not perused the gospel presented by them 
under the name of Peter, I said, ' If this be the only thing that 
creates difference among you, let it be read ;' but now having 
understood, froni what was said to me, that their minds were en- 
veloped in some heresy, I will make haste to come to you again ; 
therefore, brethren, expect me soon. But as we perceived what 
was the heresy of Marcianus, we plainly saw that he ignorantly 
contradicted himself, which things you may learn from what has 
been written to you. For we have borrowed this gospel from 
others, who have studied it, that is, from the successors of those 
who led the way before him, whom we call Docetse, (for most 
opinions have sprung from this sect.) And in this we have dis- 
covered many things, superadded to the sound faith of our Sa- 

* Rhosse was a town of Cilicia. Plutarch calls it Orossus. 



232 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

viour ; some also, attached that are foreign to it, and which we 
have also subjoined for your sake." Thus far of the works of 
Serapion. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The works of Clement. 



Of Clement there are, in all, eight books extant, called Stro- 
mata,* to which he has prefixed the following title : " Stromata 
of Commentaries, by Titus Flavius Clement, on the Knowledge 
of the True Philosophy." 

Equal in number to these, are the books that go under the 
title of Hypotyposes, or Institutions. In these, he also mentions 
Pantaenus by name, as his teacher, giving the opinions that he 
expressed, and traditions that he had received from him. There 
is also a book of exhortation, addressed by him to the Greeks. 
Also, one entitled the Psedagogue, and another with the title, 
" What Rich Man may be saved." A work also on the Passover. 
Discussions also on Fasting and Detraction. An Exhortatation 
also, to Patience, or an Address to the New Converts. (Neo- 
phytes.) A work also, with the title, Ecclesiastical Canon, or an 
Address to the Judaizing (Christians,) which he dedicated to the 
abovementioned bishop Alexander. In these Stromata, he has 
not only spread outf the divine Scriptures (made a spreading), but 
he also quotes from the Gentiles where he finds any useful re- 
mark with them, elucidating many opinions held by the multitude 
both among the Greeks and barbarians. Moreover, he refutes 
the false opinions of the heresiarchs. He also, reviews a great 

* The Greek word stromateus, which Clement prefixed as the title to each of 
his books, means a covering, or hangings for a table, or couch, mostly of various 
colours. It also signified, in later times, the bag in which the beds and covers 
were tied up. The former, however, gave rise to the use of it as a title for books 
of various contents. Hence, they were miscellanies. The plural of this word is 
stromates, or stromateis, to avoid which we use the synonymous stromata. 

t Our author here plays upon the title Stromateus, giving us by the way to un- 
derstand what was meant by the word, viz., a variegated covering spread out. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 233 

point of history, in which he presents materials of great variety 
of learning. With all these he intermixes the opinions of phi- 
losophers; whence, in all probability, he took the title Stromata, 
as corresponding to the materials (of his book.) In these he also 
makes use of testimony from the Antilegomenoi, the disputed 
Scriptures ; also from that book called the Wisdom of Solomon, 
and that of Jesus the son of Sirach ; also the Epistle to the He- 
brews, that of Barnabas, and Clement, and Jude. He mentions 
also the work of Tatian against the Greeks ; Cassian, also, who 
wrote a history of the times in chronological order. Moreover, he 
mentions the Jewish authors Philo, and Aristobulus, Josephus, and 
Demetrius, and Eupolemus, as all of these in their works prove, 
that Moses and the Jewish nation are much older than the earliest 
origin of the Greeks. The works of this writer here mentioned, 
also abound in a great variety of other learning. In the first of 
these he speaks of himself as being the next that succeeded the 
apostles, and he promises in his works also, to write a commen- 
tary on Genesis ; also in his treatise on the Passover, he acknow- 
ledges that for the benefit of posterity, he was urged by his 
friends to commit to writing those traditions that he had heard 
from the ancient presbyters. He mentions, also, Melito and Ire- 
naeus, and others, some of whose narratives he also gives. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The books that Clement mentions. 

In the work called Hypotyposes, to sum up the matter briefly, 
he has given us abridged accounts of all the canonical Scriptures, 
not even omitting those that are disputed, (The Antilegomenoi,) 
I mean the book of Jude, and the other general epistles. Also the 
epistle of Barnabas, and that called the revelation of Peter. But 
the Epistle to the Hebrews he asserts was written by Paul, to the 
Hebrews, in the Hebrew tongue ; but that it was carefully trans- 
lated by Luke, and published among the Greeks. Whence, also, 
one finds the same character of style and of phraseology in the 

2G 



234 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

epistle, as in the Acts. " But it is probable that the title, Paul 
the Apostle, was not prefixed to it. For as he wrote to the He- 
brews, who had imbibed prejudices against him, and suspected 
him, he wisely guards against diverting them from the perusal, 
by giving his name." A little after this he observes : " But now as 
the blessed presbyter used to say, ' since the Lord who was the 
apostle of the Almighty, w^as sent to the Hebrews, Paul by rea- 
son of his inferiority, as if sent to the Gentiles, did not subscribe 
himself an apostle of the Hebrews ; both out of reverence for 
the Lord, and because he wrote of his abundance to the Hebrews, 
as a herald and apostle of the Gentiles.' " Again, in the same 
work, Clement also gives the tradition respecting the order of the 
gospels, as derived from the oldest presbyters, as follows : " He 
says that those which contain the genealogies w^ere written first ; 
but that the gospel of Mark was occasioned in the following 
manner : * When Peter had proclaimed the word publicly at 
Rome, and declared the gospel under the influence of the spirit ; 
as there was a great number present, they requested Mark, who 
had followed him from afar, and remembered well what he had 
said, to reduce these things to writing, and that after composing 
the gospel he gave it to those who requested it of him. Which, 
when Peter understood, he directly neither hindered nor encou- 
raged it. But John, last of all, perceiving that what had refer- 
ence to the body in the gospel of our Saviour, was sufficiently 
detailed, and being encouraged by his familiar friends, and urged 
by the spirit, he wrote a spiritual gospel.' " Thus far Clement. 
But again, the abovementioned Alexander mentions both Cle- 
ment and Pantaenus, in a certain epistle to Origen, as men with 
whom he was familiarly acquainted. Thus he writes : " For this, 
thou knowest was the divine will, that the friendship which has 
existed between us from our ancestors, should remain unshaken, 
rather that it should grow warmer and firmer. For we well 
know those blessed fathers, that have trod the path before us, 
and to whom we ere long shall go. Pantaenus, that truly blessed 
man, my master, also the holy Clement, who was both my mas- 
ter and benefactor, and whoever there may be like them, by 
whom I have become acquainted with thee, my Lord and brother 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 235 

surpassing all." Such is the complexion of these matters. But 
Adamantius, for this too was Origen's name, whilst Zephyrinus, 
at this time, was bishop of the church of Rome, says that he also 
came to Rome, being desirous of seeing the very ancient church 
of Rome. After no long stay, he returned to Alexandria, and 
there fulfilled the duties of an instructor, with the greatest dili- 
gence, in which he was also encouraged by Demetrius who was 
then bishop, and who earnestly counselled him to labour cheer- 
fully for the benefit of the brethren. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Of Heraclas. 

But when he saw that he was not adequate at the same time 
to the more intense study of divine things, and to the interpreta- 
tion of the Scriptures, and in addition to the instruction of the 
catechumens, who scarcely allowed him even to draw breath, 
one coming after another from morning till night, to be taught by 
him, he divided the multitude, and selected Heraclas, one of his 
friends, who was devoted to the study of the Scriptures, and in 
other respects also a most learned man, not unacquainted wdth 
philosophy, and associated him with himself in the office of in- 
struction. To him, therefore, he committed the elementary ini- 
tiation of those that were yet to be taught the first beginning, 
or rudiments, but reserved for himself lecturing to those that 
were more familiar with the subject. 



CHAPTER XVL 

The great study which Origen devoted to the holy Scriptures. 

But so great was the research which Origen applied in the 
investigation of the holy Scriptures, that he also studied the He- 
brew language ; and those original works written in the Hebrew 



236 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and in the hands of the Jews, he procured as his own. He also 
investigated the editions of others, who, besides the seventy, had 
published translations of the Scriptures, and some different from 
the well known translations of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodo- 
tion, which he searched up, and traced to I know not what an- 
cient lurking places, where they had lain concealed from remote 
times, and brought them to the light. In which, when it was 
doubtful to him from what author they came, he only added the 
remark that he had found this translation at Nicopolis near Ac- 
tium, but this other translation in such a place. In the Hexapla, 
indeed, of the Psalms, after those four noted editions he adds, not 
only a fifth, but a sixth, and seventh translation, and in one it is 
remarked that it was discovered at Jericho, in a tub, in the times 
of Antonine the son of Severus. Having collected all these ver- 
sions, and divided them by punctuation into their proper mem- 
bers, and arranged them opposite one another in parallel co- 
lumns, together with the Hebrew texts, he left us those copies 
of the Hexapla which we now have. In a separate work he also 
prepared an edition of Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotion, 
together with the Septuagint, in what is called the Tetrapla. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Of the translator Symmachus. 



Of these translators it should be observed that Symmachus was 
an Ebionite ; but the heresy of the Ebionites as it is called, asserts 
that Christ was born of Joseph and Mary, and supposes him to 
be a mere man, and insists upon an observance of the law too 
much after the manner of the Jews, as we have already seen in 
a previous part of our history. There are also commentaries of 
Symmachus still extant, in which he appears to direct his re- 
marks against the gospel of Matthew, in order to establish this 
heresy. But Origen remarks that he received these with in- 
terpretations of others, from one Juliana, who, he also said, de 
rived them b)^ inheritance from Symmachus himself. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 237 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

Of Ambrose- 

About this time also, Ambrose, who had favoured the heresy 
of Valentinus, being convinced by the truth as maintained by 
Origen, and as if illuminated by a light beaming on his mind, 
became attached to the sound doctrine of the church. Many 
others, also, induced by the celebrity of Origen's learning, came 
to him from all parts, to make trial of the man's skill in sacred 
literature. Many also of the heretics, and of distinguished philo- 
sophers not a few, were among his diligent hearers, deriving in- 
structions from him, not only in divine things but also in those 
which belonged to foreign philosophy. As many as he saw en- 
dowed with abilities, he also taught the philosophical branches, 
such as geometry, arithmetic, and other preparatory studies ; and 
then advancing them to the opinions in vogue among the philoso- 
phers, and explaining their writings, he commented and speculated 
upon each, so that he was celebrated as a great philosopher 
even among the Greeks. He also instructed many of the more 
common people in the liberal studies, asserting frequently that 
they would receive no small advantage from these in understand- 
ing the holy Scriptures ; whence also he considered the studies 
of political and philosophical matters particularly necessary for 
himself. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The accounts given of Origen by others. 

But the Gentile philosophers, themselves, among the Greeks 
who flourished in the age of Origen, bear witness to his profici- 
ency in these studies, in whose works we find frequent mention 
made of the man ; at one time quoting his own words, at another 



238 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

referring their own labours to his judgment as to a master. Why 
should we say this, when even Porphyry, who was our contem- 
porary, wrote books against us, and attempted to slander the 
sacred writings ; when he mentioned those that had expounded 
them, ^nd when unable to urge any opprobrious censure against 
the doctrines, for want of argument, he turned to reviling, and 
to slander especially the commentators, among whom he is par- 
ticularly fierce against Origen, saying that he knew him when 
he was a young man. But, in fact, without knowing it, he com- 
mends the man ; saying some things in confirmation of the truth 
when he could not do otherwise, and in other matters uttering 
falsehoods where he thought he would not be detected. Some- 
times he accuses him as a Christian, and sometimes he admires 
and describes his proficiency in the branches of philosophy. 
Hear his own words : " But some," says he, " ambitious rather 
to find some solution to the absurdities of the Jewish writings, 
instead of abandoning them, have turned their minds to exposi- 
tions, inconsistent with themselves, and inapplicable to the writings; 
and which, instead of furnishing a defence of these foreigners, 
only give us encomiums and remarks in their praise. For boasting 
of what Moses says plainly in his writings, as if they were dark 
and intricate propositions, and attaching to them divine influence, 
as if they were oracles replete with hidden mysteries ; and in 
their vanity pretending to great discrimination of mind, they thus 
produce their expositions." 

Then, again, he says : " But let us take an example of this ab- 
surdity, from the very man whom I happened to meet when I was 
very young, and who was very celebrated, and is still celebrated 
by the writings that he has left ; I mean Origen, whose glory is 
very great with the teachers of these doctrines. For this man 
having been a hearer of Ammonius, who had made the greatest 
proficiency in philosophy among those of our day, as to know- 
ledge, derived great benefit from his master, but with regard to 
a correct purpose of life, he pursued a course directly opposite. 
For Ammonius, being a Christian, had been educated among 
Christians by his parents, and when he began to exercise his own 
understanding, and apply himself to philosophy, he immediately 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. " 239 

changed his views, and Hved according to the laws. But Origen, 
as a Greek, being educated in Greek Hterature, decUned to this 
barbarian impudence. To which, also, betaking himself, he both 
consigned himself and his attainments in learning, living like a 
Christian, and swerving from the laws; but in regard to his 
opinions, both of things and the Deity, acting the Greek, and in- 
termingling Greek literature with these foreign fictions. For he 
was always in company with Plato, and had the works also of 
Numenius and Cranius, of ApoUophanes and Longinus, of Mode- 
ratus and Nicomachus, and others whose writings are valued, in 
his hands. He also read the works of Chasremon, the stoic, and 
those of Cornutus. From these he derived the allegorical mode 
of interpretation usual in the mysteries of the Greeks, and ap- 
plied it to the Jewish Scriptures." 

Such are the assertions made by Porphyry, in the third book 
of his works, against the Christians, in which he asserts the truth 
respecting the study and great learning of the man, but also 
plainly asserts a falsehood (for what w^ould not a man do writing 
against Christians ?) when he says that he w^ent over from the 
Greeks to the Christians, and that Ammonius apostatised from a 
life of piety to live lilie the heathen. For the doctrine of Origen, 
and his Christian instruction, he derived from his ancestors, as our 
history has already shown ; and Ammonius continued to adhere 
unshaken, to the end of his days, to the unadulterated principles 
of the inspired philosophy. This is evident, from the labours of 
the man that are extant, in his written works, and that estabhshes 
his reputation with most men, even at the present day. As, for 
instance, that work w^ith the title, " The Harmony of Moses and 
Jesus," and whatsoever others are found among the learntid. 
Let these, therefore, suffice to evince both the calumnies of the 
false accuser, and also the great proficiency of Origen in the 
branches of Grecian literature. Respecting this, he defends him- . 
self, in an epistle, against the allegations of some who censured 
him for devoting so much study to these, writing, as follows : 
" But," says he, " when I had devoted myself wholly to the word, 
and my fame went abroad concerning my proficiency, as I was 
sometimes visited by heretics, sometimes by those who were con- 



240 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

versant with the studies of the Greeks, especially those that 
were pursuing philosophy, I was resolved to examine both the 
opinions of the heretics, and those works of the philosophers 
which pretend to speak of truth. This we have also done, in 
imitation of Pantagnus, by whom so many have been benefited 
before us, and who was not meanly furnished with erudition like 
this. In this I have also followed the example of Heraclas, who 
has now a seat in the presbytery of Alexandria, who I have 
found persevered five years with a teacher of philosophy before 
I began to attend to these studies. Wherefore, also, as he had 
before used a common dress, he threw it aside, and assuming the 
habit of philosophers, he retains it even until now. He also still 
continues to criticise the works of the Greeks with great dili- 
gence." These remarks were made by Origen, when he defended 
himself for his application to the study of the Greeks, 

About the same time, also, whilst he was staying at Alexan- 
dria, a soldier arriving, handed a letter both to Demetrius, the 
bishop of the place, and to the prefect of Egypt, from the governor 
of Arabia ; the purport of which was that he should send Origen 
to him, in all haste, in order to communicate to him his doctrine. 
Wherefore, he was sent by them. But, ere long, having finished 
the objects of his visit, he again returned to Alexandria. Some 
time after, however, when a considerable war broke out in the 
city, he made his escape out of the city ; and not thinking it would 
be safe to stay in Egypt, came to Palestine, and took up his 
abode in Cesarea. There he was also requested by the bishops 
to expound the sacred Scriptures publicly in the church, although 
he had not yet obtained the priesthood by the imposition of hands. 
This might also be shown, from what was written to Demetrius 
respecting him, by Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoctis- 
tus bishop of Cesarea, who defended him in the following man- 
ner : * — " He has added (i. e. Demetrius) to his letter, that this 
was never before either heard or done, that laymen should deE- 
ver discourses in the presence of the bishops. I know not how 
it happens that he is here evidently so far from the truth. For, 

* Demetrius is here addressed, by way of respect, in the third person. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 241 

indeed, wheresoever there are found those quahfied to benefit the 
brethren, these are exhorted by the holy bishops to address the 
people. Thus at Laranda, Euelpis was exhorted by Neon, and 
at Iconium, Paulinus by Celsus, and at Synada, Theodore by 
Atticus, our blessed brethren. It is also probable, that this has 
happened in other places, but we know not that it has." In this 
way the selfsame Origen was honoured, when yet a young man, 
not only by his own familiar friends, but also by bishops abroad. 
But Demetrius, recalling him by letter, and urging his return to 
Alexandria, by sending members and deacons of the church, he 
returned and pursued the accustomed duties of his occupation. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The works of the writers of the day still extant. 

Many learned men of the church also flourished in these 
times, of whom we may easily find epistles, which they wrote to 
one another, still extant. These have been also preserved for us 
in the library of iEha, which was built by Alexander, who was 
bishop there. From this we have also been able to collect ma- 
terials for our present work. Of these Beryllus has left us, to- 
gether with epistles and treatises, also diflerent kinds of works 
written with elegance and taste. But he was bishop of Bostra, 
in Arabia. Hippolytus, also, who was bishop of another church, 
has left us some works. There is beside, a discussion that has 
come down to us, of Caius, a most learned man, held at Rome in 
the times of Zephyrinus, against Proclus, who contended for the 
Phrygian heresy. In which, whilst he silences the rashness 
and daring of his opponents in composing new books, {i. e. of 
Scripture,) he makes mention of only thirteen epistles, not reck- 
oning that to the Hebrews with the rest ; as there are, even to 
this day, some of the Romans who do not consider it to be the 
work of the apostles. 

2H 



242 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXL 

The bishops that were noted at this time, 

Antonine reigned seven years and six months, and was suc- 
ceeded by Macrinus ; and he, after the lapse of a year, was suc- 
ceeded by another Antonine, in the sovereignty of Rome. In the 
first year of the latter, Zephyrinus the bishop of Rome, depart- 
ed this life, after having charge of the church eighteen years* 
He was succeeded in the episcopate by Callisthus, who survived 
him five years, and left the church to Urbanus. After these the 
government of Rome was held by the emperor Alexander, Anto- 
nine having lived only four years from the commencement of 
his reign. At this time also, Philetas succeeds Asclepiades in 
the church of Antioch. But Mamaea, the emperor's mother, a 
woman distinguished for her piety and religion, when the fame 
of Origen had now been every where spread abroad, so that it 
also reached her ears, was very eager both to be honoured with 
a sight of the man, and to make trial of his skill in divine things 
so greatly extolled. Therefore, whilst staying at Alexandria, she 
sent for him by a military escort. With her he staid some time, 
exhibiting innumerable matters calculated to promote the glory 
of the Lord, and to evince the excellence of divine instruction, 
after which he hastened back again to his accustomed engage- 
ments. 



CHAPTER XXIL 

The works of Hippolytus, that have reached us. 

At the same time, Hippolytus, who composed many other 
treatises, also wrote a work on the passover. In this he traces 
back the series of times, and presents a certain canon comprising 
a period of sixteen years, on the Passover, limiting his computa- 
tion of the times to the firet year of the emperor Alexander. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 243 

But the remaining works written by him, that have come down 
to us, are the following : On the Hexaemeron, On the Works after 
the Hexaemeron, To Marcion, On the Canticles, On parts of Eze- 
kiel. On the Passover, Against all the Heresies. You will also 
find many others still preserved by many. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Origen's zeal, and his elevation to the priesthood. 

From this time, however, Origen began his Commentaries on 
the sacred Scriptures, to which he was particularly urged by 
Ambrose, who presented innumerable incentives, not only by 
verbal exhortation, but by fiu-nishing the most ample supplies of 
all necessaiy means ; for he had more than seven amanuenses, 
when he dictated, who reUeved each other at appointed times. 
He had not fewer copyists, as also girls, who were well exercised 
in more elegant writing. For all which, Ambrose furnished an 
abundant supply of all the necessary expense. And, indeed he, 
for his own part, evinced an inexpressible zeal in the study of the 
sacred Scriptures, by which also he particularly stimulated 
Origen to write his Commentaries. Whilst this was the state of 
things. Urban, who had been bishop of Rome eight years, was 
succeeded by Pontianus. At Antioch, Philetus was succeeded by 
Zebinus. At this time Origen, being compelled by some necessary 
affairs of the church, went to Greece by way of Palestine, where 
he received the ordination to the priesthood, at Cesarea, from the 
bishops of that coimtry. The matters that were agitated upon 
this in reference to him, and the decisions of the bishops of the 
churches, in consequence of these movements, and whatsoever 
other works he wrote in the prime of his life, to advance the 
divine word, as it demands a separate treatise, we have suf- 
ciently stated in the second book of the work we have written 
in his defence. 



244 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

The expositions he gave at Alexandria. 

To these it might be necessary, perhaps, to add, that in the 
sixth book of his exegetical works on the gospel of John, he 
shows that the first five were composed by him whilst yet at 
Alexandria. But of the whole work on this gospel, only twenty- 
two books have come down to us. But in the ninth book on Ge- 
nesis, for there are twelve in all, he not only shows that the eight 
preceding ones were written at Alexandria, but also, his com- 
mentaries on the first five and twenty Psalms. Moreover, those 
on Lamentations, of which five books have reached us, in which 
he also makes mention of his books on the resurrection. But 
these are two in number. Likewise, the works on the Principles 
were written before his removal from Alexandria, and also those 
entitled Stromata, in number ten, he composed in the same city 
during the reign of the emperor Alexander, as is shown by his 
own notes, fully written out before the books. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

His review of the collective Scriptures. 

In his exposition of the first Psalm, he has given a catalogue 
of the books in the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, as 
follows : " But it should be observed that the collective books, as 
handed down by the Hebrews, are twenty-two, according to the 
number of letters in their alphabet." After some further re- 
marks, he subjoins : " These twenty-two books, according to the 
Hebrews, are as follows, ' That which is called Genesis, but by 
the Hebrews, from the beginning of the book, Bresith, which 
means, in the beginning. Exodus, Walesmoth,* which means, 

* We have here given the Hebrew pronunciation according to Origen's Greek, 
which differs sometimes from the common pronunciation ; allowance must also be 
made for the pronunciation of the Greek itself. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 245 

these are the names. Leviticus, Waikra, and he called. Num- 
bers, Anmesphekodlim. Deuteronomy, Elle haddabarim, that is, 
these are the words. Jesus the son of Nave, in Hebrev^, Joshue 
ben Nun. Judges and Ruth, in one book, with the Hebrews, 
which they call Sophetim. Of Kings, the first and second, one 
book, with them called Samuel, the called of God. The third 
and fourth of Kings, also in one book with them, and called, 
Wahammelech Dabid,* which means, and king David. The 
first and second book of the Paralipomena, contained in one 
volume with them, and called Dibre Hamaim, which means the 
words, i. e. the records of days. The first and second of Esdras, 
in one, called Ezra, i. e. an assistant. The book of Psalms, sepher 
ThehilHm. The Proverbs of Solomon, Misloth. Ecclesiastes, 
Coheleth. The Song of Songs, Sir Hasirim. Isaiah, lesaia. 
Jeremiah, with the Lamentations, and his Epistle, in one, Je- 
remiah. Daniel, Daniel. Ezekiel. Jeezkel. Job, Job. Esther, 
also with the Hebrews, Esther. Besides these, there are, also, 
the Maccabees, which are inscribed Sarbeth sarbane el.' " 

These, then, are the books that he mentions in the book men- 
tioned above. But in the first book of his Commentaries on the 
gospel of Matthew, following the Ecclesiastical Canon, he attests 
that he knows of only four gospels, as follows : " As I have un- 
derstood from tradition, respecting the four gospels, which are 
the only undisputed ones in the whole church of God throughout 
the world. The first is written according to Matthew, the same 
that was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus 
Christ, w^ho having published it for the Jewish converts, wrote it 
in the Hebrew. The second is according to Mark, who com- 
posed it, as Peter explained to him, whom he also acknowledges 
as his son in his general Epistle, saying, ' The elect church in 
Babylon, salutes you, as also Mark my son.' And the third, 
according to Luke, the gospel commended by Paul, which was 

* David is here written with a /3, and we have given it according to our usual 
Greek pronunciation. But Origen appears to have pronounced the beta as v; as 
also the Septuagint, who, in several instances give the name a^Si^", from the He- 
brew, where it would be impossible to suppose they had the sound of b. Some of 
the older grammarians, as Clenardus, follow the same pronunciation. 



246 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

written for the converts from the Gentiles, and last of all the 
gospel according to John. And in the fifth book of his Com- 
mentaries on John, the same author writes as follows : " But he 
being well fitted to be a minister of the New Testament, Paul, 1 
mean a minister not of the letter but of the spirit ; who, after 
spreading the gospel from Jerusalem and the country around as 
far as Illyricum, did not even write to all the churches to which 
he preached, but even to those to whom he wrote he only sent a 
few lines. But Peter, upon whom the church of Christ is built, 
against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, has left one 
epistle undisputed. Suppose, also, the second was left by him, 
for on this there is some doubt. What shall we say of him who 
reclined upon the bieast of Jesus, I mean John? who has left 
one gospel, in which he confesses that he could write so many 
that the whole world could not contain them. He also wrote the 
Apocalypse, commanded as he was, to conceal, and not to write 
the voices of the seven thunders. He has also left an epistle 
consisting of very few lines ; suppose, also, that a second and third 
is from him, for not all agree that they are genuine, but both to- 
gether do not contain a hundred lines." To these remarks he 
also adds the following observation on the Epistle to the He- 
brews, in his homilies on the same : " The style of the Epistle 
with the title, * To the Hebrews,' has not that vulgarity of dic- 
tion which belongs to the apostle, who confesses that he is but 
common in speech, that is in his phraseology. But that this 
epistle is more pure Greek in the composition of its phrases, 
every one will confess who is able to discern the difference of 
style. Again, it will be obvious that the ideas of the epistle are 
admirable, and not inferior to any of the books acknowledged to 
be apostolic. Every one will confess the truth of this, who atten- 
tively reads the apostle's writings." To these he afterwards 
again adds : " But I would say, that the thoughts are the apos- 
tle's, but the diction and phraseology belong to some one who has 
recorded what the apostle said, and as one who noted down at his 
leisure what his master dictated. If then, any church considers 
this epistle as commg from Paul, let it be commended for this, 
for neither did those ancient men deliver it as such without 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 247 

cause. But who it was that really wrote the epistle, God only 
knows. The account, however, that has been current before us 
is, according to some, that Clement who was bishop of Rome 
wrote the epistle : according to others, that it was written by 
Luke, who wrote the gospel and the Acts. But let this suffice 
on these subjects. 



CHAPTER XXVL 

Heraclas succeeds to the episcopate of Alexandria. 

But this was the tenth year of the abovementioned reign (of 
Alexander,) in which Origen, after removing from Alexandria to 
Cesarea, left his school for catechetical instruction there in the 
charge of Heraclas. But ere long Demetrius, the bishop of the 
church of Alexandria, died, having performed the duties of the 
office, upon the whole, forty-three years. He was succeeded by 
Heraclas. About this time also flourished Firmilianus bishop of 
Cesarea in Cappadocia. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

How the bishops regarded him. 



This bishop was so favourably disposed towards Origen, that 
he then called him to the regions in which he dwelt, to benefit 
the churches ; at another time, he went to visit him in Judea, and 
passed some time with him there, for the sake of improvement 
in things divine. Moreover Alexander, the bishop of Jerusalem, 
and Theoctistus, bishop of Cesarea, attending him the whole 
time nearly like pupils their master, allowed him alone to per- 
form the duties of expounding the sacred Scriptures, and other 
matters that pertain to the doctrines of the church. 



248 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

« 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

The persecution under Maximinus. 

But the emperor Alexander being carried oiF after a reign of 
thirteen years, was succeeded by Maximinus, who, inflamed with 
hatred against the house of Alexander, consisting of many be- 
lievers, raised a persecution, and commanded at first only the 
heads of the churches to be slain, as the abettors and agents of 
evangelical truth. It was then that Origen wrote his book on 
Martyrdom, which he dedicated to Ambrose and Protoctetus 
a presbyter of the church at Cesarea, because both of these en- 
countered no common danger in the persecution. In which also 
it is said that these men were pre-eminent for (persevering in) 
their confession, as Maximinus did not reign longer than three 
years. Origen has assigned the time of this persecution, both in 
the twenty-second book of his Commentaries on John, and in dif- 
ferent epistles. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Of Fahianus, loho was remarkably appointed bishop of Rome by a 
divine communication. 

GoRDiAN succeeded Maximinus in the sovereignty of Rome, 
when Pontianus who had held the episcopate six years, was suc- 
ceeded by Anteros in the church of Rome ; he also is succeeded 
by Fabianus, after having been engaged in the service about a 
month. It is said that Fabianus had come to Rome with some 
others from the country, and staying there in the most remarkable 
manner, by divine and celestial grace, was advanced to be one of 
the candidates for the office. When all the brethren had assem-. 
bled in the church, for the purpose of ordaining him that should 
succeed in the episcopate, though there were very many eminent 
and illustrious men in the expectation of many, Fabianus being 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 249 

present, no one thought of any other man. They relate, further,- 
that a dove suddenly flying down from on high, sat upon his 
head, exhibiting a scene like that of the holy Spirit once de- 
scending upon our Saviour in the form of a dove. Upon this the 
w^hole body exclaimed, with all eagerness and with one voice, as 
if moved by the one spirit of God, that he was worthy; and 
without delay they took and placed him upon the episcopal throne. 
At the same time Zebinus, bishop of Antioch, dying, was suc- 
ceeded in the government (of the church,) by Babylas, and at 
Alexandria, Demetrius held the episcopate forty-three years, and 
was succeeded in the office by Heraclas. But in the catechetical 
school there, he was succeeded by Dionysius, who was also one 
of Origen's pupils. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

The pupils of Origen. 

Whilst Origen was attending to his accustomed duties at Ce- 
sarea, many frequented his school, not only of the residents of 
the place, but also innumerable others from abroad, who left 
their country in order to attend his lectures. Of these the most 
noted whom we Imow is Thedorus, known also by the name of 
Gregory, and so celebrated among the bishops of our day ; also 
his brother Athenodorus. Origen, seeing them excessively wrapt 
in the prosecution of the studies of the Greeks and Romans, in- 
fused into them the love of philosophy, and induced them to ex- 
change their former zeal for the study of divine things. But 
after being with him five years, they made such improvement in 
the divine oracles, that both, though very young, were honoured 
with the episcopate in the churches of Pontus. 



21 



250 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXXl. 

Of Africanics. 

At this time, also, flourished Africanus, who wrote the books 
with the title Cesti. There is an epistle of his extant, addressed 
to Origen, in which he intimates his doubts on the history of Su- 
sannah, in Daniel, as if it were a spurious and fictitious compo- 
sition. To which Origen wrote a very full answer. Other %orks 
of the same Africanus that have reached us, are his five books 
of Chronography, a most accurate and laboured performance. 
In these, he says that he had gone to Alexandria, on account of 
the great celebrity of Heraclas, the same that we have already 
shown was advanced to the episcopate there, and who was, also, 
very eminent for his skill in philosophical studies, and the other 
sciences of the Greeks. Another epistle of the same Africanus 
is also extant, addressed to Aristides, on the supposed discrepancy 
between Matthew and Luke in the genealogy of Christ. In this 
he most clearly establishes the consistency of the two evangelists, 
from an account which had been handed down from liis ances- 
tors, which, in its proper place, we have already anticipated in 
the first book of the work we have in hand. 



CHAPTER XXXIL 

The Commentaries that Origen wrote in Palestine, 

About this time, also, Origen composed his Commentary on 
Isaiah, as also on Ezekiel. Of the former, thirty books* have 
come down to us as far as the third part of Isaiah, until (the 
chapter beginning) the vision of the beast in the desert. On 



* The word to^oj, from which we get tome, properly signifies a section; and as 
the sections of a work were sometimes on different scrolls, hence they were called 
books, volumes, and ro^o<. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 251 

Ezekiel there are twenty-five books, which are all that he wrote 
upon this prophet. But when he came to Athens, he, indeed, 
finished his Commentaries on Ezekiel, but also commenced his 
Notes on the Song of Solomon, and advanced there as far as the 
fifth book. But on his return to Cesarea, he also brought these 
to a close, in number ten. Why should we, however, give a 
minute statement of the man's labours, a performance, in itself, 
that would require a separate and distinct work ? And, indeed, 
this has already been done by us in our life of Pamphilus,- that 
holy martyr of our day, in which, after exhibiting the great 
zeal of Pamphilus, we also subjoin the catalogues of the Hbrary 
collected by him, of the works written by Origen and other ec- 
clesiastical writers. By which any one that wishes may most 
satisfactorily learn what works of Origen have come down to 
us. 



CHAPTER XXXin. 

The error of Beryllus. 



Beryllus, who was mentioned a little before, as bishop of Bostra 
in Arabia, perverting the doctrine of the church, attempted to in- 
troduce certain opinions that are foreign to Christian faith, daring 
10 assert that our Lord and Saviour did not exist in the proper 
sense of existence, before his dwelling among men ; neither had 
he a proper divinity, but only that divinity which dwelt in him 
from the Father. As the bishops had many examinations and 
discussions on this point vdth the man, Origen, who was also in- 
vited together with the rest, at first entered into conversation 
with him, in order to ascertain what opinion the man held. 
But when he understood what he advanced, after correcting his 
error, by reasoning and demonstration, he convinced him, and 
thus recovered him to the truth in doctrine, and brought him 
back again to the former sound opinion. There are also works 
still extant, both of Beryllus and the synod that was held on his 



252 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

account, containing the questions put to him by Origen, and the 
discussions held in his church, together with all that was done 
there. Innumerable other facts are reported by our elder 
brethren, which I have thought proper to pass by, as having no 
reference to the objects of the present work ; but whatsoever it 
was necessary to select of matters concerning him, these may be 
collected from that defence of him which we and Pamphilus, 
that holy martyr of our times, have written, which work we per- 
formed jointly, in order to obviate the malevolence of some. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Of Philip Cesar. 



GoRDiANUS had held the government of Rome six years, when 
he was succeeded by Philip, together with his son Philip. It is 
said that, as a Christian, on the day of the last vigil of the pass- 
over, he wished to share with the multitude in the prayers of the 
church, but was not permitted by the existing bishop to enter 
before he had confessed his sins, and numbered himself with those 
who were referred to transgressors, and had space for repent- 
ance. For otherwise he would never be received by him, unless 
he first did this, on account of the many crimes which he had 
committed. The emperor is said to have obeyed cheerfully, and 
exhibited a genxiine and religious disposition in regard to his fear 
of God. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Dionysius succeeds Heraclas in the episcopate. 

In the third year of this reign also, Heraclas dying, after an 
episcopate of sixteen years, was succeeded by Dionysius in the 
supervision of the church of Alexandria. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 253 

CHAPTER XXXVL 

Other works written hy Origen, 

Then also, as was to be expected, our religion spreading more 
and more, and our brethren beginning to converse more freely 
with all, Origen, who they say was now more than sixty years 
of age, and who from long practice had acquired the greatest 
facility in discoursing, permitted his discourses to be taken down 
by ready writers, a thing which he had never allowed before. 
At this time, also, he composed in eight books a reply to that 
work v^ritten against us by Celsus the Epicurean, bearing the 
title, " The True Doctrine," and the twenty-five books on Mat- 
thew's gospel, those also on the twelve apostles, of which we have 
found only twenty-five. There is also an epistle of his extant, 
addressed to the emperor Philip, and another to his wife Severa ; 
several others also to difierent persons. Of these as many as 
we have been able to collect, scattered in the hands of different 
individuals, we have reduced to certain distinct books, in number 
exceeding one hundred. But he also wrote to Fabianus bishop 
of Rome, and to many others of the bishops of churches respect- 
ing his orthodoxy ; and of these you have the proofs in the sixth 
book of our Apology for the man. 



CHAPTER XXXVIL 

The dissension of the Arabians. 



But about this time, also, other men sprung up in Arabia as 
the propagators of false opinions. These asserted, that the hu- 
man soul, as long as the present state of the world existed, pe- 
rished at death and died with the body, but that it would be 
raised again with the body at the time of the resurrection. And 
as a considerable council was held on account of this, Origen 
being again requested, likewise here discussed the point in ques- 



254 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

tion with so much force, that those who had been before led 
astray, completely changed their opinions. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

The heresy of the Helcesaites. 



Another error also sprung up about this time, called the he- 
resy of the Helcesaites, which, however, was almost stifled in 
its birth. But it is mentioned by Origen, in his public lecture 
on the eighty-second Psalm : " A certain one, says he, came re- 
cently with a great opinion of his abilities, to maintain that un- 
godly and wicked error of the Helcesaites, which has but lately 
appeared in the churches. The mischievous assertions of this 
heresy, I will give you, that you may not be carried away with 
it. It sets aside certain parts of the collective Scriptures, and it 
makes use of passages from the Old Testament, and from the 
gospels. It rejects the apostle altogether. It asserts, also, to 
deny (Christ) is indifferent, and that one who has made up his 
mind, in case of necessity will deny with his mouth, but not in his 
heart. They also produce a certain book, which they say fell 
from heaven : and that whoever has heard and believed this, 
will receive remission of sins ; a remission different from that 
given by Christ." And such is the account respecting these. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

The persecution of Decius. 



PmLip, after a reign of seven years, was succeeded by 
Decius, who, in consequence of his hatred to Philip, raised a 
persecution against the church, in which Fabianus suffered mar- 
tyrdom, and was succeeded as bishop of Rome by Cornelius. 
— In Palestine, however, Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, was 
again brought before the tribunal of the governor, at Cesarea, 
and after an eminent perseverance in his profession, though 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 255 

crowned with the hoary locks of venerable age, he was cast 
into prison. After giving a splendid and illustrious testimony at 
the governor's tribunal, and expiring in prison, he was suc- 
ceeded by Mazabanes as bishop of Jerusalem. But Babylas, like 
Alexander, dying in prison at Antioch, after his confession, the 
church there was governed by Fabius. But the number and 
greatness of Origen's sufferings there during the persecution, and 
the nature of his death, when the spirit of darkness drew up his 
forces, and waged a w^ar with all his arts and power against the 
man, and assailed him particularly beyond all that were then as- 
saulted by him; the nature and number of bonds which the 
man endured on account of the doctrine of Christ, and all his 
torments of body, the sufferings also wdiich he endured under 
an iron collar, and in the deepest recesses of the prison, when 
for many days he was extended and stretched to the distance of 
four holes on the rack ; besides the threats of fire, and what- 
soever other sufferings inflicted by his enemies he nobly bore, and 
finally the issue of these sufferings, when the judge eagerly 
strove with all his might to protract his life (in order to prolong 
his sufferings,) and what expressions after these he left behind, 
replete with benefit to those needing consolation, all this the many 
epistles of the man detail with no less truth than accuracy. 



CHAPTER XL. 

What happened to Dixmysius. 



I SHALL now subjoin the occurrences that befel Dionysius, from 
his epistle to Germanus, where, speaking of himself, he gives the 
following account : " But I speak before God, and he knows that 
I he not ; it was never by my own counsel, nor without divine in- 
timation, that I projected my flight. But before the persecution 
of Decius, Sabinus, at the very hour, sent Frumentarius to search 
for me. And I indeed, staid at home about four days, expecting 
the arrival of Frumentarius. But he went about examining all 
places, the roads, the rivers, the fields, where he suspected that 



256 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

I would go or lie concealed. But he was smitten with blindness, 
not being able to find the house, for he could not believe that I 
would remain at home when persecuted. Four days had scarcely 
elapsed when God ordered me to remove, and opened the way 
for me in a most remarkable manner. I and my domestics, 
and many of my brethren, went forth together. And that this 
happened by the providence of God, was shown by what follow- 
ed, and in which, perhaps, we were not unprofitable to some." 
After this, he shows the events that befel him after his flight, 
adding the following : " But about sunset, being seized, together 
with my company, by the soldiers, I was led to Taposiris. But 
Timothy, by the providence of God, happened not to be present, 
nor even seized. But coming afterwards, he found the house de- 
serted, and servants guarding it, and us he found reduced to sla- 
very." After other remarks, he observes : " And what was the 
manner of this divine interposition of his ? For the truth shall 
be told. A certain man of the country met Timothy flying, and 
much disturbed, and when he was asked the cause of his haste, 
he declared the truth. When he heard it, he went his way, for 
he was going to a marriage festival, (as it is the custom with them 
on these occasions to keep the whole night,) and when he entered 
he told it to those that were present at the feast These, forth- 
with, with a single impulse, as if by agreement, all arose, and 
came as quick as possible in a rush upon us, and as they rushed 
they raised a shout. The soldiers that guarded us immediately 
took to flight, and they came upon us, lying as we were upon the 
bare bedsteads. I indeed, as God knows, supposed them at first 
to be robbers, who had come to plunder and pillage. Remaining, 
therefore, on my bed, naked as I was, only covered with a linen 
garment, the rest of my dress I offered them as it lay beside me. 
But they commanded me to rise and to depart as quick as possi- 
ble. Then, understanding for what purpose they had come, I 
began to cry out, beseeching and praying them to go away and 
to let us alone. But if they wished to do us any good, to anti- 
cipate those that had led me away, and to cut off" my head. 
When I thus cried out, as my companions and partners in all my 
distresses well know, they attempted to raise me by force. 1 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 257 

then cast myself on my back upon the ground. But they seized 
me by the hands and feet, and dragged me away, whilst those 
who were witnesses of all these things, Caius, Faustus, Peter, and 
Paul, followed on. These also, taking me up, bore me away 
from the town, and carried me off on an unsaddled ass." Such 
is the account of Dionysius respecting himself 



CHAPTER XLL 

Of those who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria. 

But the same writer in the epistle which he addressed to Fa- 
bius bishop of Antioch, relates the conflicts of those who suffered 
martyrdom at Alexandria in the following manner : " The perse- 
cution with us did not begin with the imperial edict, but preceded 
it a whole year. And a certain prophet and poet, inauspicious 
to the city, whoever he was, excited the mass of the heathen 
against us, stirring them up to their native superstition. Stimu- 
lated by him, and taking full liberty to exercise any kind of 
wickedness, they considered this the only piety, and the worship 
of their daemons, viz., to slay us. First then, seizing a certain 
aged man named Metra, they called upon him to utter impious 
expressions, and as he did not obey, they beat his body with 
clubs, and pricked his face and eyes ; after which they led him 
away to the suburbs, where they stoned him. Next they led a 
woman called Quinta, who was a believer, to the temple of an 
idol, and attempted to force her to worship ; but when she turned 
away in disgust, they tied her by the feet, and dragged her 
through the whole city, over the rough stones of the paved 
streets, dashing her against the millstones, and scourging her at 
the same time, until they brought her to the same place, where 
they stoned her. Then, with one accord, all rushed upon the 
houses of the pious, and whomsoever of their neighbours they 
knew, they drove thither in all haste, and despoiled and plunder- 
ed them, setting apart the more valuable of the articles for them- 
selves ; but the more common and wooden furniture they threw 

2K 



258 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

about and burnt in the roads, presenting a sight Hke a city taken 
by the enemy. 

But the brethren retired, and gave way, and like those to whom 
Paul bears witness, they also regarded the plunder of their goods 
with joy. And I know not whether any besides one, who fell 
into their hands, has thus far denied the Lord. But they also 
seized that admirable virgin, Apollonia, then in advanced age, 
and beating her jaws, they broke out all her teeth, and kindling a 
fire before the city, threatened to burn her ahve, unless she would 
repeat their impious expressions. She appeared at first to shrink 
a little, but when suffered to go, she suddenly sprang into the fire 
and was consumed. They also seized a certain Serapion in his 
own house, and after torturing him with the severest cruelties, 
and breaking all his limbs, threw him headlong from an upper 
story. But there was no way, no public road, no lane, where 
we could walk, whether by day or night ; as they all, at all times 
and places, cried out, whoever would refuse to repeat those im- 
pious expressions, that he should be immediately dragged forth 
and burnt. 

These things continued to prevail for the most part after this 
manner. But as the sedition and a civil war overtook the 
wretches, their cruelty was diverted from us to one another. 
We then drew a little breath, whilst their rage against us was a 
little abated. .But, presently, that change from a milder reign 
was announced to us, and much terror was now threatening us. 
The decree had arrived, very much like that which was foretold 
by our Lord, exhibiting the most dreadful aspect ; so that, if it 
were possible, the very elect would stumble. All, indeed, were 
greatly alarmed, and many of the more eminent immediately gave 
way to them ; others, who were in pubhc offices, were led forth 
by their very acts ; others were brought by their acquaintance, 
and when called by name, they approached the impure and un- 
holy sacrifices. But, pale and trembling, as if they were not to 
sacrifice, but themselves to be the victims and the sacrifices to 
the idols, they were jeered by many of the surrounding multitude, 
and were obviously equally afraid to die and to offer the sacri- 
fice. But some advanced with greater readiness to the altars, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 259 

and boldly asserted that they had never before been Christians. 
Concerning whom the declaration of our Lord is most true, that 
they will scarcely be saved. Of the rest, some followed the one 
or the other of the preceding ; some fled, others were taken, 
and of these some held out as far as the prison and bonds, and 
some after a few days imprisonment abjured (Christianity) before 
they entered the tribunal. But some, also, after enduring the 
torture for a time, at last renounced. Others, however, firm and 
blessed pillars of the Lord, confirmed by the Lord himself, and 
receiving in themselves strength and power, suited and propor- 
tioned to their faith, became admirable witnesses of his kingdom. 
The first of these was Juhan, a man afflicted with the gout, 
neither able to walk nor stand, who, with two others that carried 
him, was arraigned. Of these, the one immediately denied, but 
the other, named Cronion, surnamed Eunus, and the aged Juhan 
himself, having confessed the Lord, was carried on camels through- 
out the whole city, a very large one as you know, and in this 
elevation were scourged, and finally consumed in an immense fire, 
surrounded by the thronging crowds of spectators. But a soldier, 
whose name was Besas, standing near them, who had opposed the 
insolence of the multitude, whilst they were led away to execu- 
tion, was himself assailed with their loud vociferations, and thus 
this brave soldier of God, after he had excelled in the great con- 
flict of piety, was beheaded. Another, who was a Lybian by 
birth, but both in name and blessedness a Macar (blessed), after 
much solicitation from the judge to have him renounce, still re- 
maining inflexible, was burnt ahve. After these, Epimachus and 
Alexander, who had continued for a long time in prison, enduring 
innumerable suflering from the scourges and scrapers,* were also 
destroyed in an immense fircf With these there were also 

* The instrument of torture here mentioned was an iron scraper, calculated to 
wound and tear the flesh as it passed over it. 

■j- The same expression, jrop. ^.t^htto,, occurs here as above. We have rendered 
it, dierefore, as above, by the word Jire. Valesius, who is followed by Shorting, 
translates unslacked lime. But why he should understand it diflerently here from 
what he does above, does not appear. The martjrrs here were destroyed by the 
same kind of death as the preceding. If the word n-up did not determine the sig- 



260 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

four women ; Ammonarium, a holy virgin, who was ingeniously 
tortured for a very long time by the judge, because she had 
plainly declared she would utter none of those expressions which 
he dictated; and having made good her promise, she was led 
away. The others were the venerable and aged Mercuria; 
Dionysia, also, who was the mother of many children, but did 
not love them more than the Lord. These, after the governor 
became ashamed to torture them to no purpose, and thus to b6 
defeated by women, all died by the sword, without the trial by 
tortures. But as to Ammonarium, she, like a chief combatant, 
received the greatest tortures of all. Heron and Ater and Isido- 
rus, who were Egyptians, and with them a youth named Diosco- 
rus, about the age of fifteen, were delivered up. At first he 
attempted to deceive the youth with fair words, as if he could 
be easily brought over, and to force him by tortures, as if he 
would readily yield. Dioscorus, however, was neither persuaded 
by words nor constrained by tortures. 

After scourging the rest in a most savage manner, and seeing 
them persevere, he also delivered these to the fire. But Diosco- 
rus was dismissed by the judge, who admired the great wisdom 
of his answers to the questions proposed to him, and was also 
illustrious in the eyes of the people, with the view, as he said, to 
give him further time for repentance on account of his age. And 
now this most godly Dioscorus is among us, expecting a longer and 
a more severe conflict. A certain Nemesion, also an Egyptian, 
was first indeed accused as a companion of thieves ; but when 
he had repelled this charge before the centurion, as a slander 
against him, in which there was no truth, being reported as a 
Christian, he was brought as a prisoner before the governor. 
He, a most unrighteous judge, inflicted a punishment more than 
double that of robbers, both scourges and tortures, and then 
committed him to the flames between thieves ; thus honouring 

nification, there might be some reason, perhaps, for this version, the word uir/iea-To; 
|j having T.rai/oj understood. But it is surely going far out of our way to look for 

this meaning, when the meaning is so obviously determined by the many circimi- 
I stances which here combine. It may be remarked, by the way, that the expression 

is literally inextinguishable fire, a strong hyperbole for immense fire. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 261 

the blessed martyr after the example of Christ. But there was 
'a band of soldiers, standing in a dense body before the tribunal, 
who were Ammon, and Zeno, and Ptolemy, and Ingenuus, to- 
gether with the aged Theophilus. A certain one being brought 
and tried as a Christian, and already inclining to deny, they stood 
near, gnashed with their teeth, and beckoned to them with their 
faces, and stretched out their hands, and made gestures with their 
bodies. And whilst all were directing their eyes upon them, be- 
fore they were seized by any one else, they ran up to the tribunal 
and declared that they were Christians ; so that the governor 
and his associates themselves were greatly intimidated, whilst 
those who were condemned were most cheerful at the prospect 
of what they were to suffer ; but their judges trembled. And 
these, therefore, retired from the tribunals, and rejoiced in their 
testimony, in which God had enabled them to triumph gloriously. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Other accounts given hy Dionysiics. 

But many others were also torn asunder in cities and villages, 
of which I shall mention one as an example. Ischyrion was 
hired by one of the rulers in the capacity of a steward. This 
man was ordered by his employer to sacrifice, but as he did not 
obey, he was abused by him. Persevering in his purpose, he was 
treated with contumely, and as he still continued to bear with 
all, his employer seized a long pole and slew him, by thrusting 
it through his bowels. Why should I mention the multitudes 
that wandered about in deserts and mountains, that perished by 
hunger and thirst, and frost and diseases, and robbers and wild 
beasts ? The survivors of whom are the witnesses both of their 
election and victory. But I will add one fact to illustrate this : 
" Chaeremon was a very aged bishop of the city called Nile. He 
fleeing into the Arabian* mountain, with his partner, did not re- 

* Valesius thinks that the mountain here mentioned, was not, as the name seems 
to imply, in Arabia, but translates in both places where it occurs, Arabicus mens, 



262 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

turn again, nor could the brethren learn any thing of him any 
more, though frequent search was made for him. They neither 
found them nor their bodies, but many were carried off as slaves 
by the barbarous Saracens, to the same mountains. Some of 
these were ransomed with difficulty, others not even to the pre- 
sent day. And these facts, I have stated brethren, not without 
an object, but that thou mayest see how great and terrible dis- 
tresses have befallen us. Of which, indeed, they who have been 
most tried, also understand the most." Then, after a few re- 
marks, he observes : " But these same martyrs, who are now sit- 
ting with Christ, and are the sharers in his kingdom, and the 
partners in his judgment, and who are now judging with him, re- 
ceived those of the brethren that fell away, and had been con- 
victed of sacrificing, (to idols,) and when they saw their conver- 
sion and repentance, and that it might be acceptable to him who 
doth not by any means wish the death of the sinner so much as 
their repentance, and having proved them (as sincere) they re- 
ceived and assembled with them. They also communicated 
with them in prayer and at their feasts. What then, brethren, 
do ye advise concerning these? What should we do? Let us 
join in our sentiments with them, and let us observe their judg- 
ment and their charity ; and let us kindly receive those who were 
treated with such compassion by them. Or should we rather 
pronounce their judgment unjust, and set ourselves up as the 
judges of their opinion ? And thus grieve the spirit of mildness, 
and overturn established order ?" These remarks were probably 
added by Dionysius when he spoke of those that had fallen away 
through weakness, during the persecution. 

Arabian mountain. He thinks that it was so called merely from its vicinity or 
contiguity to Arabia. 



I 



Ifel 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 263 

CHAPTER XLIIL 

Of JVovatiLS, his manners and habits , and his heresy. 

About this time appeared Novatus, a presbyter of the church 
of Rome, and a man elevated with haughtiness against these (that 
had fallen), as if there was no room for them to hope salvation, 
not even, if they performed every thing for a genuine and pure 
confession. He thus became the leader of the peculiar heresy 
of those who, in the pomp of their imaginations, called themselves 
Cathari. A very large council being held on account of this, at 
which sixty indeed of the bishops, but a still greater number of 
presbyters and deacons were present ; the pastors of the remain- 
ing provinces, according to their places, deliberated separately 
what should be done : this decree was passed by all ; " That 
Novatus, indeed, and those who so arrogantly united wdth him, 
and those that had determined to adopt the uncharitable and 
most inhuman opinion of the man, these they considered among 
those that were aHenated from the church ; but that brethren 
who had incurred any calamity should be treated and healed 
with the remedies of repentance." 

There are also epistles of Cornelius, bishop of Rome, addressed 
to Fabius, bishop of Antioch, which show the transactions of 
the council of Rome, as also, the opinions of all those in Italy and 
Africa, and the regions there. Others there are also written in 
the Roman tongue, from Cyprian, and the bishops wath him in 
Africa. In these, it is show-n that they also agree in the neces- 
sity of relieving those who had fallen under severe temptations, 
and also in the propriety of excommunicating the author of the 
heresy, and all that were of his party. To these is attached also 
an epistle from Cornelius on the decrees of the council, besides 
others on the deeds of Novatus, from which we may add extracts, 
that those who read the present work may know the circum- 
stances respecting him. What kind of a character Novatus was, 
CorneMus informs Fabius, writing as follows : " But that 
you may know, says he, how this singular man, who formerly 



264 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

aspired to the episcopate, and secretly concealed within himself 
this precipitate ambition, making use of those confessors that 
adhered to him from the beginning, as a cloak for his own folly 
I will proceed to relate : Maximus, a presbyter of our church, 
and Urbanus, twice obtained the highest reputation for their con- 
fessions. Sidonius also, and Celerinus, a man who, by the mercy 
of God, bore every kind of torture in the most heroic manner, and 
by the firmness of his own faith strengthened the weakness of the 
flesh, completely worsted the adversary. These men, therefore, 
as they knew him, and had well sounded his artifice and dupli- 
city, as also his perjuries and falsehoods, his dissocial and savage 
character, returned to the holy church, and announced all his 
devices and wickedness, which he had for a long time dissembled 
within himself, and this too in the presence of many bishops ; and 
the same also, in the presence of many presbyters, and a great 
number of laymen, at the same time lamenting and sorrowing 
that they had been seduced, and had abandoned the church for a 
short time, through the agency of that artful and malicious 
beast." After a little, he further says : " We have seen, beloved 
brother, within a short time, an extraordinary conversion and 
change in him. For this most illustrious man, and he who af- 
firmed with the most dreadful oaths, that he never aspired to the 
episcopate, has suddenly appeared a bishop, as thrown among us 
by some machine. For this dogmatist, this (pretended) cham- 
pion of ecclesiastical discipline, when he attempted to seize and 
usurp the episcopate not. given him from above, selected two 
desperate characters as his associates, to send them to some small, 
and that the smallest, part of Italy, and from thence, by some ficti- 
tious plea, to impose upon three bishops there, men altogether ig- 
norant and simple, affirming and declaring, that it was necessary 
for them to come to Rome in all haste, that all the dissension 
which had there arisen might be removed through their media- 
tion, in conjunction with the other bishops. When these men 
had come, being, as before observed, but simple and plain in dis- 
cerning the artifices and villany of the wicked, and when shut up 
with men of the same stamp with himself, at the tenth hour, when 
heated with wine and surfeiting, they forced them by a kind of 



wm 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 265 

shadowy and empty imposition of hands, to confer the episcopate 
upon him, and which, though by no means suited to him, he claims 
by fraud and treachery. One of these, not long after, returned to 
his church, mourning and confessing his error, with whom also we 
communed as a layman, as all the people present interceded for 
him, and we sent successors to the other bishops ordaining them 
in the place where they were. This assertor of the gospel then 
did not know that there should be but one bishop in a catholic 
church.* (sv xodo^iLXYi exxkyiaia,^ In which, however, he well 
knew, (for how could he be ignorant ?) that there were forty-six 
presbyters, seven deacons, seven sub-deacons, forty-two acoluthi 
(clerks,) exorcists, readers, and janitors, in aU fifty-two : widows, 
with the afflicted and needy, more than fifteen hundred; all 
which the goodness and love of God doth support and nourish. But 
neither this great number, so necessary in the church, nor those 
that by the providence of God were wealthy and opulent, to- 
gether with the innumerable multitude of the people, were able 
to recall him and turn him from such a desperate and presump- 
tuous course." 

And, again, after these, he subjoins the following : " Now let 
us also tell by what means and conduct he had the assurance to 
claim the episcopate. Whether, indeed, it was because he was 
engaged in the church from the beginning, and endured many 
conflicts for her, and encountered many and great dangers in the 

* The word catholic, in its Greek etymology, means universal, as we have some- 
times explained it in this translation. It is applied to the Christian, as a universal 
church, partly to distinguish it from the ancient church of the Jews, which was 
limited, partial, and particidar in its dviration, subjects, and country. The Chris- 
tian is also called a universal or catholic church, because it must in regard to doc- 
trine hold quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus. In this latter view, which it 
should be well observed is the original application, it is synonymous with orthodox. 
This is evident, from the fact that ovir author appHes it to different churches in 
other parts of his history. And in the present instance the expression is general, 
a catholic church. It is in a sense allied to this also, that we are, no doubt, to un- 
derstand the title of our general (catholic) epistles, in the New Testament. They 
are catholic, because as consonant to the doctrines of the church in all respects, they 
have been also universally received. In this sense, the term is also synonymous 
with cationical. 

2L 



266 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

cause of true religion ? None of all this. To him, indeed, the 
author and instigator of his faith was Satan, who entered into 
and dwelt in him a long time. Who aided by the exorcists, when 
attacked with an obstinate disease, and being supposed at the 
point of death, was baptised by aspersion, in the bed on which 
he lay ; if, indeed, it be proper to say that one like him did re- 
ceive baptism. But neither when he recovered from disease, did 
he partake of other things, which the rules of the church prescribe 
as duty, nor was he sealed (in confirmation) by the bishop. But 
as he did not obtain this, how could he obtain the holy spirit ?' 
And, again, soon after, he says : " He denied he was a presbyter, 
through cowardice and the love of life, in the time of persecution. 
For when requested and exhorted by the deacons, that he should 
go forth from his retreat, in which he had imprisoned himself, 
and should come to the relief of the brethren, as far as was pro- 
per and in the power of a presbyter to assist brethren requiring 
relief, he was so far from yielding to any exhortation of the 
deacons, that he went away offended and left them. For he 
said that he wished to be a presbyter no longer, for he was an 
admirer of a different philosophy." 

Passing over some other matters, our author again adds : — 
" This illustrious character abandoning the church of God, in 
which, when he was converted he was honoured with the pres- 
bytery, and that by the favour of the bishop placing his hands 
upon him (ordaining him), to the order of bishops, and as all the 
clergy and many of the laity resisted it, since it was not lawful 
that one baptized in his sick bed by aspersion, as he was, should 
be promoted to any order of the clergy, the bishop requested that 
it should be granted him to ordain only this one." After this, he 
adds another deed, the worst of all the man's absurdities, thus ; 
" For having made the oblation, and distributed a part to each 
one, whilst giving this, he compels the unhappy men to swear in- 
stead of blessing ; holding the hands of the one receiving, with 
both of his own, and not letting them go until he had sworn in 
these words, for I shall repeat the very words : ' Swear to me, 
by the body and blood of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that you will 
never desert me, nor turn to Cornelius.' And the unhappy 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 267 

man is then not suiFered to taste until he has first cursed him- 
self; and instead of saying Amen after he had taken the bread, 
he says, ' I will no longer return to Cornehus.' " And, after other 
matters, he again proceeds, as follows : " Now, you must know, 
that he is stripped and abandoned, the brethren leaving him every 
day and returning to the church. He was also excommuni- 
cated by Moses, that blessed witness, who but lately endured a 
glorious and wonderful martyrdom, and who, whilst yet among 
the living, seeing the audacity and the folly of the man, excluded 
him from the communion, together with the five presbyters that 
had cut themselves off from the church." 

At the close of the epistle, he gives a list of the bishops who 
had come to Rome, and had discarded the incorrigible disposition 
of Novatus ; at the same time adding the names, together with 
the churches governed by each. He also mentions those that 
were not present at Rome, but who, by letter, assented to the 
decision of the former, adding also the names and the particular 
cities whence each one had written. Such is the account written 
by Cornehus to Fabius bishop of Antioch. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Dionysius's account of Serapion. 



In a letter to this same Fabius, who in some measure seemed 
to incHne to this schism, Dionysius of Alexandria, amongst many 
other matters that he wrote to him on repentance, and in which 
he describes the conflicts which the martyrs had recently endured 
at Alexandria, with other accounts, relates one fact wonderful 
indeed. This we deem belonging to our history, and is as follows : 
" But I will give you one example that occurred with us. There 
was a certain Serapion, an aged believer, who had passed his 
long life irreproachably, but as he had sacrificed during the per- 
secution, though he frequently begged, no one would hsten to him. 
He was taken sick, and continued three days in succession speech- 
less and senseless. On the fourth day, recovering a little, he 



268 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

called his grandchild to him, and said, " O son, how long do you 
detain me? I beseech you hasten, and quickly absolve me. 
Call one of the presbyters to me. Saying this, he again became 
speechless. The boy ran to the presbyter. But it was night, 
and the presbyter was sick. As I had, however, before issued 
an injunction, that those at the point of death, if they desired it, 
and especially if they entreated for it before, should receive abso- 
lution, that they might depart from life in comfortable hope, I 
gave the boy a small portion of the eucharist, telling him to dip 
it in water, and to drop it into the mouth of the old man. The boy 
returned with the morsel. When he came near, before he en- 
tered, Serapion having again recovered himself, said, ' Thou hast 
come, my son, but the presbyter could not come. But do thou 
quickly perform what thou art commanded, and dismiss me.' 
The boy moistened it, and at the same time dropped it into the 
old man's mouth. And he, having swallowed a little, immediately 
expired. Was he not, then, evidently preserved, and did he not 
continue living until he was absolved ; and his sins being wiped 
away, he could be acknowledged as a believer for the many good 
acts that he had done ?" Thus far Dionysius. 

% 



CHAPTER XLV. 

The epistle of Dionysius to JVovatus. 

Let us also see what kind of epistle the same writer addressed 
to Novatus, who was then disturbing the brethren at Rome; 
since he pretended that certain brethren were the cause of his 
apostacy and schism, because he had been forced by them to 
proceed thus far. Observe the manner in which he writes to 
him : " Dionysius sends greeting to his brother Novatus. If, as 
you say, you were forced against your will, you will show it by 
retiring voluntarily. For it was a duty to suffer any thing at all, 
so as not to afflict the church of God ; and, indeed, it would not 
be more inglorious to suffer even martyrdom for its sake, than to 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 269 

sacrifice ; and in my opinion it would have been a greater glory. 
For there, in the one case, the individual gives a testimony for 
his own soul, but in the other he bears witness for the whole 
church. And now, if thou persuade or constrain the brethren to 
return to unanimity, thy uprightness will be greater than thy de- 
lusion, and the latter will not be laid to thy charge, but the other 
will be applauded ; but if thou art unable to prevail with thy 
friends, save thy own soul. With the hope that thou art desirous 
of peace in the Lord, I bid thee farewell." Such was the epistle 
of Dionysius to Novatus. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Other epistles qf Dionysius. 

He v^rrote, also, an epistle to the brethren in Egypt, On Repent 
ance, in which he gives his opinion respecting those who had 
fallen, and in which he also gives the degrees of faults. There 
is also a separate work of his extant, On Repentance, addressed 
to Conon bishop of Hermopolis ; and also another epistle of re- 
proof to his flock at Alexandria. Among these, is also the work 
addressed to Origen, On Martyrdom; also, an epistle to the 
brethren of Laodicea, where Thelymidres was bishop. He wrote 
in like manner to the Armenians, On Repentance, where Meru- 
zanes was bishop. Besides all these, he wrote to CorneHus at 
Rome, in answer to an epistle from him, against Novatus ; in 
which answer he shows that he had been invited by Helenus, 
bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia, and the rest that were collected with 
him, viz. Firmilianus, bishop in Cappadocia, and Theoctistus of 
Palestine, that he should meet them at the council of Antioch, 
where certain persons were trying to establish the schism of No- 
vatus. Besides this, he wrote that he had been informed Fabius 
was dead, but that Demetrianus was appointed his successor in 
the episcopate of the church at Antioch. He also writes respect- 
ing the bishop of Jerusalem, in these words : " As to the blessed 



270 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Alexander, he was cast into prison, and departed happily." 
Next to this, there is also another epistle of Dionysius to the Ro 
mans, On the Office of Deacons, sent hy Hippoly tus. To the 
same people he also wrote another epistle. On Peace ; also. On 
Repentance ; and another, again, to the confessors there, who 
were yet affected with the opinion of Novatus. To these same 
he wrote two others, after they had returned to the church. To 
many others, also, he addressed letters of admonition and exhort- 
ation, calculated to afford various advantage, even now, to those 
who wish to study his writings. 



BOOK VII. 



That great bishop of Alexandria, Dionysius, shall aid us also 
in the composition of the seventh book of our history, by extract- 
ing from his works whatsoever particulars of his day he has 
separately detailed in the epistles that he has left us. With 
these, at least, we shall commence our account. 



CHAPTER I. 

The great wickedness of Decius and Gallus, 

Decius had scarcely reigned two years, when he, with his 
children, was slain. Gallus was his successor. Origen died at 
this time, in the seventieth year of his age. Dionysius, in an 
epistle to Hermamon, makes the following remarks on Gallus : 
" But neither did Gallus understand the wickedness of Decius, 
nor did he foresee what it was that had destroyed him, but he 
stumbled at the same stone lying before his eyes. For when his 
reign was advancing prosperously, and his affairs succeeding ac- 
cording to his wishes, he persecuted those holy men, who inter- 
ceded with God both for his peace and safety. Hence, together 
with them, he also persecuted the very prayers that were offered 
up in his behalf." Thus much he has said respecting him. 



CHAPTER II. 

The bishops of Rome at this time. 



After Cornelius had held the episcopal office at Rome about 
three years, he was succeeded by Lucius, but the latter did not 

271 



272 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

hold the office quite eight months, when dying he transferred it to 
Stephen. To this Stephen, Dionysius wrote the first of his epis- 
tles on baptism, as there was no little controversy, whether those 
turning from any heresy whatever, should be purified by baptism ; 
as the ancient practice prevailed with regard to such, that they 
should only have imposition of hands with prayer. 



CHAPTER III. 



Cyprian, and the bishops connected with him^miaintained, that 
those who had turned from heretical error, should he baptized 
again. 

Cyprian, who was bishop {rtoiiiYiv) of the church of Carthage, 
was of opinion, that they should be admitted on no conditions, 
before they were first purified from their error by baptism. But 
Stephen, who thought that no innovations should be made con- 
trary to traditions that had prevailed from ancient times, was 
greatly offended at this. 



CHAPTEPv. IV. 

The epistles that Dionysius wrote on this subject. 

Dionysius, therefore, after addressing to him many arguments 
by letter, on this subject, finally showed, that as the persecution 
had abated, the churches, every where averse to the innovations 
of Novatus, had peace among themselves. But he writes as 
follows. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 278 

CHAPTER V. 

The peace after the persecution, 

"Now I wish you to understand, my brother, that all the 
churches throughout the east, and farther, that were formerly 
divided, have been united again. All the bishops, also, are every 
where in harmony, rejoicing exceedingly at the peace which has 
been established beyond all expectation. These are, Demetrianus 
of Antioch, Theoctistus of Cesarea, Mazabanes of ^Elia after the 
death of Alexander, Marinus of Tyre, Heliodorus of Laodicea 
after the decease of Thelymidres, Helenus of Tarsus, and all 
the churches of Cilicia, Firmihanus, and all Cappadocia ; for I 
have mentioned only the more distinguished of the bishops by 
name, that neither the length of my letter, nor the burden of my 
words, may offend you. All the provinces of Syria and Arabia, 
which at different times you supplied with necessaries, and to 
whom you have now written, Mesopotamia, Pontus, and Bithynia, 
and to comprehend all in a word, all are rejoicing every where 
at the unanimity and brotherly love now prevailing, and are glo- 
rifying God for the same." Such are the words of Dionysius. 

But after Stephen had held the episcopal office two years, he 
was succeeded by Xystus, and Dionysius having addressed a 
second letter to him on baptism, at the same time showing the 
opinion and decision passed by Stephen and the rest of the 
bishops, makes the following remarks on Stephen : " He had writ- 
ten before respecting Helenus and Firmilianus, and all those from 
Cilicia, and Cappadocia, and Galatia, and all the nations adjoin- 
ing, that he would not have communion with them on this account, 
because they, said he, rebaptized the heretics. And behold, I pray 
you, the importance of the matter. For in reahty, as I have 
ascertained, decrees have been passed in the greatest councils of 
the bishops, that those who come from the heretics, are first to be 
instructed, and then are to be washed and purified from the filth 
of their old and impure leaven. And respecting all these things, 
I have sent letters entreating them. After stating other matters, 

2M 



274 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

he proceeds : " But I have also written to our beloved and fellow- 
presbyters Dionysius and Philemon, who agreed before with 
Stephen in sentiment, and wrote to me on these matters ; before, 
indeed, I wrote briefly, but now more fully." Such were the ac- 
counts respecting the controversy mentioned. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The heresy of Sahellius. 



Speaking of the heresy of Sabellius, that arose about this, 
time, and that was then increasing, he writes as follows : " But 
as to the opinion which is now agitated at Ptolemais of Penta- 
polis, it is impious, and replete with blasphemy towards Almighty 
God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and abounds also 
in much infidelity in regard to his only begotten Son, and the first 
born of all creation, the incarnate word ; it abounds also in ir- 
reverence to the Holy Spirit. But as the brethren came to me 
from both sides, both before the letters were received and the 
question was discussed, I drew up a more regular treatise on the 
subject, as far as I was enabled under God ; copies of which I 
have sent to thee. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The execrable error of the heretics, the divine vision of Dionysius, 
and the ecclesiastical canon given to him. 

But in the third epistle on baptism, which Dionysius wrote to 
Philemon a presbyter of Rome, he relates the following circum- 
stances : " I perused," says he, " the works and traditions of the 
heretics, defiling my mind for a little with their execrable senti- 
ments ; but I have also derived this benefit from them, viz., to 
refute them in my own mind, and to feel the greater disgust at 
them. And when a certain brother of the presbyters attempted to 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 275 

restrain me, and was much in dread lest I should be carried away 
by this sink of iniquity, saying that my mind would be corrupted, 
in which he spoke the truth, as I thought, I was confirmed in 
my purpose by a vision sent me from heaven, when a voice came 
to me and commanded me in w^ords as follows : ' Read all that 
thou takest in hand, for thou art quaUfied to correct and prove all, 
and this very thing has been the cause of thy faith in Christ from 
the beginning.' I received the vision, as coinciding w^ith the 
apostolic declaration, which says to the more competent, ' Be 
ye skilful moneychangers.' " 

Then after some remarks on aU the heresies, he adds : " This 
rule and form I have received from our father* (TtaTta) the bless- 
ed Heraclas, that those who come from the heretics, although 
they had apostatized from the church, or rather that had not apos- 
tatized, but seemed to have communion with the brethren, but were 
reported as frequenting some one of those who taught strange 
doctrines, after they had been expelled from the church were 
not admitted again by him, though they entreated much, until 
they had publicly declared all that they had heard from their 
adversaries ; and then indeed he admitted them to commune, with- 
out deeming another baptism necessary for them. For they had 
already before received the Holy Spiritf from him." But after 
agitating the question again considerably, he adds : " I have also 
understood that this practice was introduced not only by those 
of Africa, but also long since, during the times of those bishops 
before us, in the most populous churches, the same thing was 
decreed by the councils of the brethren at Iconium and Synada." 
To overturn their determinations, and to drive them into contention 
and strife, I cannot endure. For thou shalt not remove, as it is 



* The word ^*^»i here used, and applied by Dionysius to his predecessor at 
Alexandria was, as we see in this instance, applied to the more aged and venerable 
prelates. We thus see the origin of the word pope, Latin papa, German pabst. 
This word is no doubt to be traced to the language of nature, as forming the first 
syllables that the infant lisps. It is explained by a scholiast on Juvenal, Senex 
veneratione dignus, pater. See Juv. Sat. vi. 632. 

f This phrase was appUed where the bishop admitted the heretics by the imposi- 
tion of hands. 



276 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

said, the landmarks of thy neighbour, which thy fathers have 
placed. His fourth epistle On Baptism was written to Dyonisius 
at Rome, who was then a presbyter, but ere long was ordained 
bishop of that church. From this it is evident, that this same 
Dionysius of Rome was a learned and excellent man, as is 
proved by the Dionysius of Alexandria. But he wrote to him, 
among other matters, respecting the affairs of Novatus, as follows. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The heterodoxy of Novatus, 



We justly cherish an aversion to the Novatian, says he, by 
whom the church is split asunder, and some of the brethren 
have been drawn into impiety and blasphemy, and most nefari- 
ous doctrine has been introduced respecting God, and our most 
gracious Lord and Saviour Christ has been calumniated as de- 
void of compassion; which also, beside all this, sets aside the 
holy baptism, and overturns the faith and confession that pre- 
cede it, and totally drives away the Holy Spirit from themselves, 
should there happen to be any hope yet, that he would remain or 
return to them. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The ungodly baptism of heretics. 



But there was also a fifth epistle written by him to Xystus, 
bishop of Rome, in which, stating many things against the here- 
tics, he relates that some occurrence like the following took place 
in his times. " Really brother," says he, " I need your counsel, and 
I beg your opinion, on an affair that has presented itself to me, 
and in which, indeed, I am afraid I may be deceived. One of the 
brethren that collected with us, who was considered a believer 
long since, even before my ordination, and who I think assem- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 277 

bled with us before the appointment, (consecration) of the blessed 
Heraclas ; this man happening to be present with those that were 
immediately baptized, and listening to the questions and answers, 
came to me weeping and bewailmg himself, casting himself also 
at my feet ; he began to acknowledge and abjure his baptism by 
the heretics, because their baptism was nothing like this, nor in 
deed, had any thing in common with it, for it was filled with im- 
piety and blasphemies. He said also, that his soul now was 
wholly pierced, and he had not confidence enough to raise 
his eyes to God, coming from those execrable words and deeds. 
Hence he prayed that he might have the benefit of this most per- 
fect cleansing, reception and grace, which indeed I did not dare 
to do, saying, that his long communion was sufficient for this. 
For one who had been in the habit of hearing thanksgiving, and 
repeating the amen, and standing at the table, and extending his 
hand to receive the sacred elements, and after receiving and be- 
coming a partaker of the body and blood of our Lord and Sa- 
viour Christ for a long time, I would not dare to renew again any 
further. I exhorted him, therefore, to take courage, and with a 
firm faith and good conscience to approach and take part with 
the saints in the solemnity of the holy supper. But he did not 
cease lamenting. He shuddered to approach the table, and 
scarcely could endure it, even when exhorted to be present at 
prayers." 

There is beside the above epistles, also, one and another of 
the same on baptism, from him and his church, addressed to 
Xystus and the church of Rome. In this he protracts his dis- 
course to a great length of argument on the question there dis- 
cussed. There is also a certain other epistle of his besides these, 
addressed to Dionysius of Rome, that concerning Lucianus. But 
thus much respecting these. 



278 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER X: 

Valerian, and the persecution raised by him, 

Gallus had not held the government quite two years when he 
was removed, and Valerian, with his son GaUienus, succeeded in 
his place. What Dionysius has also said respecting him, may be 
learned from his epistle to Hermammon, in which he gives the 
following account : " In like manner it was revealed to John, and 
there was," says he, " a mouth given him, speaking great things, 
and blasphemy. And there was given him power, and forty- 
two months, but it is wonderful that both took place in Valerian, 
and especially when we consider the condition of the man before 
this, how kind and friendly he was towards the pious. For never 
was there any of the emperors before him so favourably and 
benevolently disposed toward them, not even those who were 
openly said to be Christians, so plainly received them, with such 
excessive civility and friendship in the commencement of his 
reign. All his house was likewise filled with pious persons, and 
was, indeed, a congregation (exx/iyiaia) of the Lord. But the 
master and chief ruler of the Egyptian magi (Macrianus,) per- 
suaded him to abandon this course, exhorting him to persecute 
and slay these pure and holy men, as enemies and obstacles to 
their wicked and detestable incantations. For there were, and 
still are, men who, by their very presence, or when seen, and 
only breathing and speaking, are able to dissipate the artifices of 
wicked daemons. But he suggested to him to study rites of ini- 
tiation, and abominable arts of sorcery, to perform execrable 
sacrifices, to slay unhappy infants, and to sacrifice the children 
of wretched fathers, and to search the bowels of new-born babes, 
and to mutilate and dismember the creatures of God, as if by 
doing this they should obtain great felicity." To this account he 
also subjoins the following : " Macrianus, therefore, returned them 
handsome rewards for his desired accession to the government, 
who before was generally called, from his character, the empe- 
ror's steward and receiver-general, now did nothing that could be 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 279 

pronounced for the public good, or even reasonable ;* but that 
prophetic malediction which says, ' Wo to those that prophesy 
according to their own hearts, and do not see to the public good ;' 
for neither did he perceive that Providence that regulates the 
whole ; and neither did he expect that judgment of him that is 
before all, and through all, and over all. Hence, he became an 
enemy to his universal church. But he also estranged and strip- 
ped himself of the mercy of God, and thus fled as far as possible 
from his salvation. In this, indeed, he really expressed the pe- 
culiarity of his name."t Again, he says: "Valerian, indeed, 
was thus urged by this man to these measures, whilst he exposed 
himself to insults and reproaches, according to what Isaias has 
said: 'And these have chosen their own ways, and their own 
abominations, which their soul hath desired. And I will choose 
their derisions, and will repay them their sins.' But the latter 
(viz. Macrianus,) anxious without any merit to have the govern- 
ment, and yet unable to assume the imperial garb, with his feeble 
body, appointed his two sons to take upon them, as it were, their 
father's crimes. For the declaration of God respecting such, 
proved its truth, when he said, * visiting the sins of the fathers 
upon the children, to the thhd and fourth generations of them 
that hate me.' For heaping his own wicked passions, in the 
gratification of which he did not succeed, upon the heads of his 
children, he swept off upon them his own wickedness and hatred 
of God." And such is the account which Dionysius has given 
of Valerian. 

* Dionysius here puns upon the honourable title and office that Macrianus had 
borne, as the emperor's faithful minister, s^-i x»3o\ou\oya;v, but to which his suhse- 
quent conduct did not correspond. The pun is lost in a translation. 

j- Macrianus, derived from the Greek i«axpos long, or /K«xp«v at a distance; an- 
other witty allusion. 



280 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XL 

The sufferings of Dionysius, and those in Egypt 

But as to the persecutions that raged so violently under him, 
and what sufferings he with others endured for their piety to- 
wards the Supreme God, his own words shall declare, which he 
addressed to Germanus, one of the contemporary bishops that 
attempted to slander him. His words are as follows: "But," 
says he, " I apprehend that as I am forced to relate the wonder- 
ful providence of God respecting us, I shall be liable to much 
folly and insensibility. But, as it is said, it is honourable to 
conceal the secrets of the king, and glorious to make manifest 
the works of God, I will face the violence of Germanus. I came 
to iEmilianus not alone, but in company with my fellow-presbyter 
Maximus, and the deacons Faustus, Eusebius, and Chaeremon, to- 
gether with a certain one of the brethren who had come from 
Rome. JEmilianus, however, did not at first say to me, hold no 
assemblies, as this was superfluous, and was the last to one who 
was aiming at what was the first in importance ;* for he was not 
concerned about my collecting others, but that we should not be 
Christians, and from this he commanded me to desist, thinking, no 
doubt, that if I changed, others would follow my example. But I 
answered him not without good reason, and without many words, 
* We must obey God rather than man.' But I directly bore wit- 
ness, that I could neither change worshipping the only true God 
and none other, nor ever cease to be a Christian. Upon this he 
commanded us to go away to a neighbouring village of the 
desert, called Cephro. 

" But hear the words that were uttered by both of us, as they 
were recorded. Dionysius and Faustus, Maximus, Marcellus, 

* The great question with the judge was, not whether those arraigned held meet- 
ings, but whether they were Christians. To have commenced with the former, 
when the latter was the great object, would have been a kind of usTspoi/ T^-pcorspov, that 
abandoned the primary for the secondary. HostiUty to Christianity as a religion, 
was the great incentive here, to which all other acts were referred, as their head 
and fountain. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 281 

and Chgeremon, being arraigned, iEmilianus, the prefect, said : 
* I have even personally reasoned with you on the clemency of 
our sovereigns, which you have also experienced. For they 
have given you the chance of saving yourselves, if you are dis- 
posed to turn to the course of nature, and worship the gods that 
have preserved them in their government, and to forget those 
practices which are so unnatural {rov na^a i^vatv). What, 
then, say ye to these things ? For neither do I expect that you 
will be ungrateful for their kindness, since they would dispose 
you to a better cause.' Dionysius answered, ' All the gods are 
not worshipped by all, but each party worships those whom they 
think to be gods. We, therefore, worship the one God and Cre- 
ator of all things, and the very same that has committed the 
government to their most excellent and sacred majesties. Vale- 
rian and Gallienus. Him we worship and adore, and to him we 
incessantly pray that their reign may continue firm and un- 
shaken.' iEmihanus, the prefect, again replied : ' But who 
prevents you from worshipping this one God, if he is a god, to- 
gether with those that are the natural gods ? For you are com- 
manded to worship the gods, and those gods which all know to 
be such.' Dionysius answered : ' We worship no other one.' 
^milianus, the prefect, said, ' I perceive that you are at the 
same time ungrateful, and insensible to the clemency of our Ce- 
sars. Therefore you shall not remam in this city, but you shall 
be sent to the parts of Lybia, to a place called Cephro. For 
this place I have selected according to the orders of our Cesars. 
But neither you, nor any others, shall in any wise be permitted, 
either to hold conventions, or to enter what you call your ceme- 
teries.* But if any one appear not to have gone to the place 

* The Christians called their burial places cemeteries, y.otfii^T>,j>ix, dormitories, be- 
cause death, m the Ught of the gospel, is a sleep. These dormitories, as we here 
see, were frequented by the Christians, as pecuUarly calculated to cherish reUgious 
sentiments, particularly if these places had been the depositories of martyred con- 
fessors. It was here, too, where, in the firm faith that death is but a sleep, they 
could hold a kind of communion with departed virtue, and find their own strength- 
ened by it. Well may Christianity be pronounced the only true philosophy, when 
she arrays our greatest terrors in such a light. 

2N 



282 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

which I have commanded, or if he shall be found in any assembly, 
he will do it at his peril. For the necessary punishment will not 
fail. Remove, therefore, whither ye are commanded.' Thus 
he compelled me, sick as I was, nor did he grant me a day's re- 
spite. What leisure, then, had I to hold assemblies, or not to 
hold them r 

After other matters, he says again, " But neither did we keep 
aloof from assembling ourselves by divine assistance; but so 
much the more diligently did I gather those that were in the 
city, as if I were in their midst : absent, indeed, in the body, as 
I said, but present in spirit. But in Cephro a large congregation 
collected with us, partly of the brethren that accompanied us 
from the city, partly of those that joined us from Egypt ; and 
thus God opened a door for the word likewise there. And at 
first, indeed, we were persecuted, we were stoned ; but, at last, 
not a few of the heathen, abandoning the idols, turned to God, 
for the word was then first sown among them, as they had never 
before heard it. And thus, as if God had conducted us for this 
cause to them, after we had fulfilled this ministry, we were again 
transferred to another part. For ^milianus designed to trans- 
port us, as it seemed, to places more rough, and more replete 
with Libyan horrors (more Libyan-like), and he commanded 
those in the Mareotic district every where to collect, appointing 
them separate villages throughout the country. But our party, 
together with those that should be first taken, he commanded to 
be left on the way. For, no doubt, it was among his plans and 
preparations, that whenever he wished to seize us he might easily 
take us captive. But when I was first ordered to go away to 
Cephro, though I knew not the place where it was, having 
scarcely even heard the name before, yet I nevertheless went 
away cheerfully and calmly. But when it was told me to re- 
move to the parts of CoUuthion, those present know how I was 
affected. For here I shall accuse myself At first, indeed, I 
was afflicted, and bore it hard. For though these places happened 
to be more known and familiar to me, yet they said that it was 
a region destitute of brethren and good men, and exposed to the 
insolence of travellers, and the incursions of robbers. But I re- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 283 

ceived comfort from the brethren, who reminded me that it was 
nearer to the city. Cephro, indeed, brought us a great number 
of brethren promiscuously from Egypt, so that we were able to 
spread the church farther ; but as the city was nearer there, we 
should more frequently enjoy the sight of those that were really 
beloved and most dear to us. For they would come, and would 
tarry, and as if in the more remote suburbs, there would be still 
meetings in part. And so it was." 

After these, and other remarks, he proceeds to tell what hap- 
pened to him again : " Germanus, indeed, may pride himself for 
many confessions ; he may have much to say of what happened 
to him : he may, as well as we, speak of the great number of 
sentences of condemnation, confiscations, proscriptions, spoliations 
of goods ; loss of dignities ; contempt of worldly honour ; con- 
tempt of praise from the prefects or from counsellors, and the 
endurance of the opposite threats of outcries ; of dangers of per- 
secutions ; of exile ; of great trouble and various kinds of afflic- 
tion, such as happened to me under Decius and Sabinus, such as 
I have suffered until the present persecution of iErflilianus. But 
where in the world Was Germanus ? What is said of him ? 
But I will abstain from the great folly into which I have fallen 
on account of Germanus. And hence, also, I shall dismiss giving 
a particular account of what happened to the brethren, who 
already know the facts." 

The same writer, also, in the epistle to Domitius and Didymus, 
again makes mention of some particulars, in reference to the per- 
secution, as follows : " But it is superfluous for me to recount to 
you our brethren by name, as they are both numerous and un- 
known to you. But you must know that they are men and 
women, young and old, young virgins and aged matrons, soldiers 
and private men, every class and every age, some that obtained 
the crown of victory under stripes and in the flames, some by the 
edge of the sword. For many, however, the lapse of a very long 
time was not sufficient to appear acceptable to God, as indeed it 
has not appeared to me to the present time. Therefore, I have 
been reserved for a time which he knows most suitable, who has 
said, ' In the accepted time I have heard thee, and in the day of 



28f 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



salvation I have assisted thee.' But since you have inquired, and 
v^rish to be informed of all concerning us, you have fully heard 
hovir we fare : hov^ we v^ere led aw^ay as prisoners by the cen- 
turion and magistrates, and the soldiers and officers v^^ith them, 
myself and Caius, Faustus, Peter, Paul, when a certain party 
came from Mareotis and forcibly dragged us away, we following 
them not of our own accord, but forced. But now Caius and 
Peter, with myself, solitary and deprived of the rest of our bre- 
thren, are shut up in a wild and desert place of Libya, three days' 
journey distant from Paraetonium." 

After some further remarks, he proceeds : " But in the city 
some concealed themselves, secretly visiting the brethren ; pres- 
byters Maximinus, Dioscorus, Demetrius, and Lucius. For 
Faustinus and Aquila, who are more prominent in the world, are 
wandering about in Egypt. But of those that died of the sick- 
ness, the surviving deacons are Faustus, Eusebius, Chagremon. 
Eusebius, who was strengthened by the Lord from the beginning, 
and who was well qualified to fulfil the arduous and necessary 
duties to tho^ confessors that were in prison, and to perform the 
dangerous office of burying those perfected and blessed men who 
suffered martyrdom. For, to the present day, the governor does 
not cease killing some, as I before said, in a most cruel manner, 
whenever they are arraigned, torturing others with scourging, 
wasting others with imprisonment and bonds, and commanding 
that no one shall go nigh them, and examining whether any, 
perhaps, is seen to do so. And yet God, by the alacrity and 
kindness of the brethren, has afforded some relief to the afflicted." 
Such is the statement of Dionysius in this epistle. 

But it should be observed, that this Eusebius, whom he called 
a deacon, was not long after appointed bishop of Laodicea, in 
Syria. But Maximus, whom he called a presbyter, at that time 
succeeded Dionysius as bishop of the church at Alexandria. But 
Faustus, who was at that time greatly distinguished for his con- 
fession, being reserved until the persecution of our times, in a 
very advanced age, and full of days, was made perfect as a mar- 
tyr, and was beheaded. Such, however, were the events that 
happened to Dionysius at this time. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 285 

CHAPTER XIL 

The martyrs at Cesar ea of Palestine, 

In the persecution of Valerian, mentioned above, three men 
of Cesarea in Palestine, who shone gloriously in their confession of 
Christ, were honoured with divine martyrdom by becoming the 
food of wild beasts. Of these, one was called Priscus, another 
Malchus, the third was named Alexander. These, it is said, 
lived at first in the country, pretending to be careless and indif- 
ferent ; but when occasion presented itself from heaven to them, 
already burning with desire to obtain the prize, they would then 
cease, with the view that they might not be too forward in seiz- 
ing the martyr's crown. With these purposes, therefore, they 
hasted to Cesarea, and advanced to the judge, and obtained the 
sentence mentioned. It is also said, that a certain female en- 
dured a similar conflict in' the same persecution and city, but 
who is also said to have been of the sect of Marcion. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Tlie peace after Gallienus. 



But as it was not long before Valerian was taken captive, and 
reduced to slavery by the barbarians, his son Gallienus, obtain- 
ing the sole command, was disposed to use more clemency in the 
exercise of his power. He, therefore, immediately restrained 
the persecution against us, by sending edicts, in which he"' com- 
manded that the ministers of the word might perform the custo- 
mary duties of their office with freedom, the copy of which was 
as follows : *' The emperor Cesar, Publius, Licinius, Gallienus, 
Pius, FeKx, Augustus, to Dionysius, Pinna, Demetrius and the 
other bishops. The benefit of the privilege granted by me, I 
have ordered to be issued throughout the whole world, that all 
may depart from their religious retreats ; and therefore you also 



286 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

may make use of this copy of my edict, that no one may molest 
you. And this liberty indeed, which you are now permitted to 
have, has been long since granted by me. Aurelius Cyrenius, 
therefore, who has the chief administration of aJBfairs, will ob- 
serve the copy here given by me." This, that it may be the bet- 
ter understood, we have here presented to our readers, in a 
translation from the Latin tongue. There is also another ordi- 
nance from him, which he addressed to other bishops, in which 
he grants permission to recover what are called the cemeteries. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The bishops that flourished at this time. 

At this time the episcopate in the Roman church was yet 
held by Xystus; but in the church of Alexandria, after Fabius,by 
Demetrianus ; of Cesarea in Cappadocia by Firmihanus ; of the 
churches in Pontus, by Gregory, and his brother Athenodorus, 
both of them familiar friends of Origen. At Cesarea, however, 
of Palestine, after the death of Theoctistus, the episcopal office 
was conferred on Domnus, and he not surviving long, was suc- 
ceeded by Theotecnus our contemporary. He was also of the 
school of Origen, but in Jerusalam, after the decease of Maza- 
banus, Hymenseus followed as his successor in the episcopal seat, 
the same that has obtained much celebrity in our times for many 
years. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The martyrdom of Marinus at Cesarea. 

About this time, as peace was every where restored to the 
churches, Marinus of Cesarea in Palestine, who was one of the 
army, distinguished for his military honours, and illustrious for 
his family and wealth, was beheaded for his confession of Christ, 



ECCLESIASTICAL ffiSTORY. 287 

on the following account : " There is a certain honour among 
the Romans, called the vine, which they who obtain are said to 
be centurions. A place becoming vacant, Marinus, by the order 
of succession, was called to this promotion ; but when he was on 
the point of obtaining this, however, another one advancing to 
the tribunal began to make opposition, by saying that according 
to the ancient institutions it w^as not lawful for him to share in 
the Roman honours, as he was a Christian, and refused to sacri- 
fice to the emperors ; but that the office devolved on him. The 
judge, whose name w^as Ach^us, roused at this, first began 
to ask what the opinions of Marinus were ; and when he saw 
him constantly affirming that he was a Christian, he granted him 
three hours for reflection. But as soon as he came out of the 
praetorium, or judgment hall, Theotecnus, the bishop of the place, 
coming to him, drew him aside in conversation, and taking him 
by the hand, conducted him to the church ; and having placed 
him within by the altar, he raised his cloak a httle, and pointing 
to the sword that was attached to his side, at the same time pre- 
senting before him the book of the holy gospels, told him to 
choose either of the two according to his wish. Without hesita- 
tion he extended his hand and took the book. " Hold fast, then, 
hold fast to God," said Theotecnus, " and strengthened by him, 
mayest thou obtain what thou hast chosen — go in peace." Im- 
mediately upon his return from thence, a crier began to proclaim 
before the praetorium, for the appointed time had already passed 
away ; and being thus arraigned, after exhibiting a still greater 
ardour in his faith, he was forthwith led away as he was, and 
made perfect by martyrdom. 



CHAPTER XVL 

Some account of Astyrius. 



Mention is also made in these times of the pious confidence 
of Astyrius, a man who weis a Roman of senatorial rank, m great 



288 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

favour with the emperors, and well known to all for his noble 
birth and his wealth. As he was present at the death of the 
abovementioned martyr ; taking up the corpse, he bore him on 
his shoulder in a splendid and costly dress, and covering it in a 
magnificent manner, committed it to a decent burial. Many 
other facts are stated of the man by his friends, who have lived 
to the present times. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The miracles of our Saviour at Paneas. 

Among these there was the following remarkable occurrence. 
At Cesarea Philippi, which is called Paneas by the Phoenicians, 
they say there are springs that are shown there, at the foot of 
the mountain called Panius, from which the Jordan rises ; and 
that on a certain festival day there was usually a victim thrown 
into these, and that this, by the power of the daemon, in some 
wonderful manner entirely disappeared. The thing was a fa- 
mous wonder to all that were there to see it. Astyrius happen- 
ing to be once present at these rites, and seeing the multitude 
astonished at the affair, pitied their delusion. Then raising his 
eyes to heaven, he implored the God over all through Christ, to 
refute this seducing daemon, and to restrain the delusion of the 
people. As soon as he prayed, it is said that the victim floated 
on the stream, and that thus this miracle vanished, no wonder 
ever more occurring in this place. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

The statue erected by the woman having an hemorrhage. 

But as we have mentioned this city, I do not think it right to 
pass by a narrative that also deserves to be recorded for posterity. 
They say that the woman who had an issue of blood, mentioned 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 289 

by the evangelists, and who obtained deliverance from her afflic- 
tion by our Saviour, was a native of this place, and that her 
house is shown in the city, and the wonderful monuments of our 
Saviour's benefit to her are still remaining. At the gates of her 
house, on an elevated stone, stands a brazen image of a woman 
on her bended knee, with her hands stretched out before her 
like one entreating. Opposite to this there is another image of a 
man, erect, of the same materials, decently clad in a mantle (di- 
plois,) and stretching out his hand to the woman. Before her 
feet, and on the same pedestal, there is a certain strange plant 
growing, which rising as high as the hem of the brazen garment, 
is a kind of antidote to all kinds of diseases. This statue, they 
say, is a statue of Jesus Christ, and it has remained even until 
our times ; so that we ourselves saw it whilst tarrying in that 
city. Nor is it to be wondered at, that those of the Gentiles who 
were anciently benefited by our Saviour, should have done these 
things. Since we have also seen representations of the apostles 
Peter and Paul, and of Christ himself, still preserved in paintings ; 
as it is probable that, according to a practice among the Gentiles, 
the ancients were accustomed to pay this kind of honour indis- 
criminately to those who were as saviours or deliverers to them. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The episcopal seat of James. 



James being the first that received the dignity of the episcopate 
at Jerusalem, from our Saviour himself, as the sacred Scriptures 
show that he was generally called the brother of Christ ; this see, 
which has been preserved until the present times, has ever been 
held in veneration by the brethren that have followed in the suc- 
cession there, in which they have sufficiently shown what rever- 
ence both the ancients and those of our own times exhibited, and 
still exhibit, towards holy men on account of their piety. But 
enough of this. 

20 



290 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The epistles of Dionysius, on festivals, in which he gives the 
canon on the Passover, 

Besides these epistles, the same Dionysius, about this time 
also composed others, called his Festival Epistles, in which he 
discourses much in praise of the festival of the Passover. One of 
these he addressed to Flavius, another to Domitius and Didymus, 
in which also he gives the canon for eight years, showing that it 
is not proper to observe the paschal festival before the vernal 
equinox was past. Beside these, he composed another epistle, 
addressed to his compresbyters at Alexandria. Also, to several 
others, and these during the prevalence of the persecution. 



CHAPTER XXL 

The events that occurred at Alexandria. 

Peace having been scarcely established, he returned, indeed, 
to Alexandria ; but as sedition and war again broke out, so that 
it was impossible for him to superintend all the brethren then 
divided into different parties, he again addresses them by letter 
at the passover, as if he were still an exile from Alexandria. He 
also wrote, after this, another paschal letter to Hierax, a bishop 
of Egypt, in which he makes mention of the sedition then exist- 
ing at Alexandria, as follows : " But what cause of wonder is 
there, if it be difficult for me also to address epistles to those 
that are so very remote, when I am at a loss to consult for my 
own life, or to reason with myself. For, indeed, I have great 
need to send epistolary addresses to those who are as my own 
bowels, my associates and dearest brethren and members of the 
same church. But how I shall send these I cannot devise. For it 
would be more easy for any one, I would not say to go beyond the 
limits of the province, but even to travel from east to west, than 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. S91 

to go from Alexandria to Alexandria itself. For the very heart 
of the city is more desolate and impassable than that vast and 
trackless desert which the Israelites traversed in two generations, 
and our smooth and tranquil harbours have become like that 
sea which opened and arose like walls on both sides, enabled 
them to drive through, and in whose highway the Egyptians were 
overwhelmed. For often they appear like the Red Sea, from the 
frequent slaughters committed in them; but the river which 
washes the city, has sometimes appeared more dry than the 
parched desert, and more exhausting than that in which Israel 
was so overcome with thirst on their journey that they exclaimed 
against Moses, and the water flowed for them from the broken 
rock, by the power of Him who alone doeth wondrous works. 
Sometimes, also, it has so overflowed, that it has inundated all 
the country round ; the roads and the fields seeming to threaten 
that flood of waters which happened in the days of Noah. It 
also flows always polluted with blood and slaughter, and the con- 
stant drowning of men, such as it formerly was, when, before 
Pharaoh, it was changed by Moses into blood and putrid matter. 
And what other purification could be applied to water which 
itself purifies all ? Could that vast and impassable ocean ever 
wash away this bitter sea ? or could that great river, itself, which 
flowed from Eden, though it poured the four heads into v/hich it 
was divided, into one Gihon, wash away this filth ? When will 
this air, corrupted as it is by the noxious exhalations every where 
rising, become pure and serene ? For there are such vapours 
from the earth, and such storms from the sea-breezes, from the 
rivers and mists coming from the harbours, that make it appear 
as if we should have for dew, the gore of these dead bodies that 
are putrifying in all the elements around us. 

" Then, and notwithstanding all this, men wonder, and are at 
a loss to know whence come the constant plagues; whence 
these malignant diseases; whence those variegated infections; 
whence all that various and immense destruction of human lives. 
Wherefore it is, that this mighty city no longer cherishes within 
it such a number of inhabitants, from speechless children to the 
aged and decrepid, as it formerly had of those whom it could 



292 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

pronounce firm and vigorous in years. But those of forty years 
and up to seventy, were so much the more numerous then, that 
their number cannot now be made up, if even those from fourteen 
to eighty were inserted and enrolled among the receivers of the 
public grain. And those who in appearance are but the youngest, 
are now as of an age with those formerly the oldest. And yet, 
though they constantly see the human race diminishing, and con- 
stantly wasting away, in the very midst of this increasing de- 
struction, and this annihilation, they are not alarmed." 



CHAPTER XXIL 

The pestilence which then prevailed. 

The pestilence, after these things, succeeding the war, and the 
festival being at hand, he again addresses the brethren in epistles ; 
in which he shows the great calamities attending this affliction, 
as follows : " To other men, indeed, the present would not ap- 
pear a fit season for a festival, and neither is this, nor any other 
time a festival for them, not to speak of sorrowful times, but not 
even that which a cheerful person might especially deem such. 
But now all things are filled with tears, all are mourning, and by 
reason of the multitudes already dead, and still dying, groans are 
daily resounding throughout the city. For as it is written re- 
specting the first born of Egypt, thus now, also, a great lament- 
ation has arisen, for there is not a house in which there is not 
one dead. And I wish, indeed, this were all. Many, indeed, 
and horrible calamities have preceded this. First, indeed, they 
drive us away, and solitary and in exile, and persecuted and put 
to death by all, we still celebrated the festival ; and every place, 
marked by some particular affliction, was still a spot distinguished 
by our solemnities ; the open field, the desert, the ship, the inn, 
the prison. But the most joyous festival of all was celebrated by 
those perfect martyrs w^ho are now feasting in the heavens. 

" After this, war and famine succeeded, which indeed we en- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 293 

dured with the heathen, but bore alone those miseries with which 
they afflicted us, whilst we also experienced the effects of those 
which they inflicted, and suffered from one another. And again 
we rejoiced in the peace of Christ, which he gave to us alone, 
and when both we and they obtained a very short respite, then 
we were assailed by this pestilence. A calamity more dreadful 
to them than any dread, and more afflictive that any affliction, 
and which as one of their own historians has said, was of itself 
alone beyond all hope. To us, however, it did not wear this 
character, but no less than other events it was a school for ex- 
ercise and probation. For neither did it keep aloof from us, al- 
though it assailed the heathen most." To this he afterwards adds : 
" Indeed, the most of our brethren, by theii exceeding great love 
and brotherly affection, not sparing themselves, and adhering to 
one another, were constantly superintending the sick, ministering 
to their wants without fear and without cessation, and healing 
them in Christ, have departed most sweetly with them." Though 
filled with the disease from others, and taking it from their neigh- 
bours, they voluntarily, by exsuction, extracted their pains. 
Many also, who had healed and strengthened others, themselves 
died, transferring their death upon themselves, and exemplifying 
in fact, that trite expression which seemed before only a form of 
politeness, or an empty compliment ; they were in fact, in their 
death, the offscouring of all. {TtEpi-^fiOL Ttavtov-) The best of 
our brethren, indeed, have departed this life in this way, some in- 
deed presbyters, some deacons, and of the people those that were 
exceedingly commended. So that this very form of death, wdth 
the piety and ardent faith which attended it, appeared to be but 
little inferior to martyrdom itself. They took up the bodies of 
the saints with their open hands and on their bosoms, cleaned their 
eyes and closed their mouths, carried them on their shoulders, and 
composed their limbs, embraced, clung to them, and prepared 
them decently with washing and garments, and ere long they them- 
selves shared in receiving the same offices. Those that survived 
ahvays foUow^ing those before them. Among the heathen it was 
the direct reverse. They both repelled those who began to be 
sick, and avoided their dearest friends. They would cast them 



294 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

out into the roads half dead, or throw them when dead without 
burial, shunning any communication and participation in death, 
which it was impossible to avoid by every precaution and care." 
After this epistle, when the city was at peace, he addressed 
another paschal epistle to the brethren in Egypt, and wrote 
many others besides. There is one of his extant. On the Sab- 
bath, another On Exercise. He also addressed one to Hermam- 
mon, and to the brethren in Egypt Many other facts, after de- 
scribing the wickedness of Decius and his successors, he states, 
and also mentions the peace of Gallienus. 



CHAPTER XXIIL 

The reign of Gallienus. 



But it is best to hear his own words, as follows : " He indeed, 
viz., Macrianus, having betrayed the one, and waged war with 
the other emperor, suddenly perished with his whole family. But 
Gallienus was proclaimed and universally acknowledged emperor, 
an emperor at once new and old, having been before them, and 
now surviving them. For as it is said by the prophet Isaiah, 
Those things that were from the first, lo they have come, and 
those are new which shall now arise. As the cloud which enters 
the sun's rays, and for a httle obscures it by its shadow and ap- 
pears in its place, when the cloud has passed by, or is dissipated, 
the sun which had arisen before seems to rise again. Thus 
Macrianus, who had established himself, and aspired higher, to 
the very power of Gallienus, himself is now no more, because 
he never was; but the latter is just as he was, and his govern- 
ment as if it had lost the feebleness of age, and had become puri- 
fied of its former filth, now arose and assumed a more flourishing 
aspect. And it is now seen and heard at a greater distance, and 
expanded to every part." After this he also indicates the time 
when he wrote this. " And it occurs to me again, to survey the 
days of our emperor's reign. For I see, indeed, that those most 
impious men, once honoured, and famous, ere long became with- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY^ 295 

out a name. But the more holy and pious emperor, surviving 
the seventh year, is now in the ninth, in which we are about to 
celebrate the festival." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

OfJVepos, and his schism. 



Besides these, there are two works of his on the Promises ; 
the occasion of which was Nepos a bishop in Egypt. He taught, 
that the promises given to holy men in the Scriptures, should 
be understood more as the Jews understood them, and supposed 
that there would be a certain millennium of sensual luxury on this 
earth. Thinking, therefore, that he could establish his own 
opinion by the Revelation of John, he composed a book on this 
subject, with the title, Refutation of the AUegorists. This, there- 
fore, was warmly opposed by Dionysius, in his work on the Pro- 
mises. In the former, indeed, he gives his own opinion on the 
subject; in the other he enters into a discussion on the Revelation 
of John, where, in the introduction, he makes mention of Nepos, 
as follows : " But they produce a certain work of Nepos, upon 
which they lay great stress, as if he advanced things that are 
irrefragable, when he asserts that there will be an earthly 
reign of Christ. In many other respects I accord with and 
greatly love Nepos, both on account of his faith and industry, 
and his great study in the Scriptures ; as also for his great atten- 
tion to psalmody, by which many are still delighted. I greatly 
reverence the man also, for the manner in which he has departed 
this life. But the truth is to be loved and honoured before all. 
It is just, indeed, that we should applaud and approve whatever 
is said aright, but it is also a duty to examine and correct what- 
ever may not appear to be written with sufficient soundness. If, in- 
deed, he were present, and were advancing his sentiments orally, 
it would be sufficient to discuss the subject without writing, and 
to commence and confirm the opponents by question and answer. 
But as the work is published, and as it appears to some, is calcu- 



296 ECCLESIASTICAT. HISTORY. 

lated to convince, and there are some teachers who say that 
the law and prophets are of no value, and who give up follow- 
ing the gospels, and who depreciate the epistles of the apostles, 
and who at the same time announced the doctrine of this work 
as a great and hidden mystery, and who also do not allow that 
our brethren have any sublime and great conception, either of 
the glorious and truly divine appearance of our Lord, nor of our 
own resurrection, and our being gathered, and assimilated to 
him ; but persuade them to expect what is little and perishable, 
and such a state of things as now exists in the kingdom of God. 
It becomes, therefore, necessary for us also, to reason with our 
brother Nepos as if he were present." To these he adds, after 
other remarks : " When I was at Arsinoe, wh6re, as you know 
long since, this doctrine was afloat, so that schisms and aposta- 
cies of whole churches followed, after I had called the pres- 
byters and teachers of the brethren in the villages, when those 
brethren had come who wished to be present, I exhorted them 
to examine the doctrine publicly. When they had produced this 
book as a kind of armour and impregnable fortress, I sat with 
them for three days, from morning till evening, attempting to re- 
fute what it contained. Then, also, I was greatly pleased to ob- 
serve the constancy, the sincerity, the docility, and intelligence 
of the brethren, as we proceeded to advance in order, and the 
moderation of our questions and doubts and mutual concessions. 
For we carefully and studiously avoided, in every possible way, 
insisting upon those opinions which were once adopted by us, 
though they might appear to be correct. Nor did we attempt 
to evade objections, but endeavoured as far as possible to keep 
to our subject, and to confirm these. Nor ashamed if reason 
prevailed, to change opinions, and to acknowledge the truth; 
but rather received with a good conscience and sincerity, and 
with single hearts, before God, whatever was established by 
the proofs and doctrines of the holy Scriptures. At length Co- 
racio, who was the founder and leader of this doctrine, in the 
hearing of all the brethren present, confessed and avowed to us, 
that he would no longer adhere to it, nor discuss it, that be would 
neither mention nor teach it, as he had been fully convinced by 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 297 

the opposite arguments. The other brethren present rejoiced 
also at this conference, and at the conciliatory spuit and unani 
mity exhibited by all." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The apocalypse of John. 

After this, he proceeds further to speak of the Revelation of 
John, as follows : " Some, indeed, before us, have set aside, and 
have attempted to refute the whole book, criticising every chapter, 
and pronouncing it without sense and without reason. They 
say that it has a false title, for it is not of John. Nay, that it is 
not even a revelation, as it is covered wdth such a dense and thick 
veil of ignorance, that not one of the apostles, and not one of the 
holy men, or those of the church could be its author. But that 
Cerinthus, the founder of the sect of Cerinthians, so called from 
him, wishing to have reputable authority for his own fiction, 
prefixed tlie title. For this is the doctrine of Cerinthus, that 
there will be an earthly reign of Christ ; and as he was a lover 
of the body, and altogether sensual in those things which he so 
eagerly craved, he dreamed that he would revel in the gratifica- 
tion of the sensual appetite, i. e. in eating and drinking, and 
marrying ; and to give the things a milder aspect and expression, 
in festivals and sacrifices, and the slaying of victims. For my 
part I would not venture to set this book aside, as there are many 
brethren that value it much ; but having formed a conception of 
its subject as exceeding my capacity, I consider it also containing 
a certain concealed and wonderful intimation in each particular. 
For, though I do not understand, yet I suspect that some deeper 
sense is enveloped in the words, and these I do not measure and 
judge by my private reason ; but allowing more to faith, I have 
regarded them as too lofty to be comprehended by me, and those 
things which I do not understand, I do not reject, but I wonder 
the more that T cannot comprehend." 

After this, he examines the whole book of the Revelation, and 

2P 



298 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



after proving that it is impossible that it should be understood 
according to the obvious and literal sense, he proceeds : " The 
prophet, as I said, having completed the whole prophecy, he pro- 
nounces those blessed that should observe it as also himself. 
* For blessed,' says he, ' is he that keepeth the words of the pro- 
phecy of this book, and I, John,* who have seen and heard these 
things.' I do not, therefore, deny that he was called John, and 
that this was the writing of one John. And I agree that it was 
the work, also, of some holy and inspired man. But I would not 
easily agree that this was the apostle, the son of Zebedee, the 
brother of James, who is the author of the gospel, and the general 
(catholic) epistle that bears his name. But I conjecture, both 
from the general tenor of both, and the form and complexion of 
the composition, and the execution of the whole book, that it is 
not from him. For the evangelist never prefixes his name, never 
proclaims himself, either in the gospel or in his epistle." 

A little farther, he adds : " But John never speaks as of him- 
self (in the first person), nor as of another (in the third), but he 
that wrote the apocalypse, declares himself immediately in the 
beginning : * The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which he gave to 
him to show to his servants quickly. And he sent and signified 
it by his angel, to his servant John, who bare record of the word 
of God, and of his testimony (of Jesus Christ) and of all things 
that he saw.' 

" Besides this, he wrote an epistle : ' John to the seven churches 
of Asia, grace and peace to you.' But the evangelist does not 
prefix his name even to his general epistle ; but, without any in- 
troduction or circumlocution, begins from the very mystery of the 
divine revelation : * That which was from the beginning, which 
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes ;' for upon 
such a revelation as this Peter was blessed by our Lord : * Bless- 
ed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, because flesh and blood hath not 
revealed it to thee, but my Father in heaven.' But neither in 



* Dionysius here understands the author of the Apocalypse, introducing him- 
self as a subject of the same blessedness of which he speaks. This connexion, 
though not usually regarded, is obvious on an inspection of the original. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 299 

the second nor third epistle ascribed to John (the apostle), though 
they are very brief, is the name of John presented. But anony- 
mously it is written, the presbytei\ But the other did not consider 
it sufficient to name himself but once, and then to proceed in his 
narration, but afterwards again resumes, ' I, John, your brother 
and partner in tribulation, and the kingdom and patience of Je- 
sus, was on the island called Patmos, on account of the word of 
God, and the testimony of Jesus.' And, Hkewise, at the end (of 
the book) he says ; ' Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the 
prophecy of this book, and I am John that saw and heard these 
things.' 

" That it is a John that wrote these things we must believe him, 
as he says it ; but what John it is, is uncertain. For he has not 
said that he was, as he often does in the gospel, the beloved dis- 
ciple of the Lord, neither the one leaning on his bosom, nor the 
brother of James, nor he that himself saw and heard what the 
Lord did and said. For he certainly would have said one of 
these particulars, if he wished to make himself clearly known. 
But of all this there is nothing, he only calls himself our brother 
and companion, and the witness of Jesus, and blessed on account 
of seeing and hearing these revelations. I am of opinion there 
were many of the same name with John the apostle, who, for 
their love and admiration and emulation of him, and their desire 
at the same time, like him, to be beloved of the Lord, adopted 
the same epithet, just as we find the name of Paul and of Peter 
to be adopted by many among the faithful. 

" There is also another John, surnamed Mark, mentioned in 
the Acts of the Apostles, whom Paul and Barnabas took in com- 
pany with them. Of whom it is again said : ' But they had John 
as their minister.' (Acts xiii. 5.) But whether this is the one that 
wrote the Apocalypse, I could not say. For it is not written that 
he came with them to Asia. But he says ; 'When Paul and his 
company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, 
but John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.' I think, 
therefore, that it was another one of those in Asia. For they 
say that there are two monuments at Ephesus, and that each 
bears the name of John, and from the sentiments and the expres- 



300 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

sions, as also their composition, it might be very reasonably con- 
jectured that this one is different from that. For the gospel and 
epistle mutually agree. They commence in the same way ; for 
the one says, ' In the beginning was the word ;' the other, ' That 
which was from the beginning.' The one says, ' and the word 
was made flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we saw 
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.' The 
other says the same things, a little altered : * That which we 
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, that which we 
have seen and our hands have handled of the word of life, and 
the life was manifested.' These things, therefore, are premised, 
alluding, as he has shown in the subsequent parts, to those who 
say that the Lord did not come into the flesh. Wherefore, also, 
he has designedly subjoined : * What we have seen we testify, 
and we declare to you that eternal life, which was with the 
Father, and was made manifest to us ; what we have seen and 
heard we declare to you.' He keeps to the point, and does not 
depart from his subjects, but goes through all in the same chap- 
ters and names, some of which we shall briefly notice. 

" But the attentive reader will find the expressions, the life^ 
the light, frequently occurring in both ; in both he will find the 
expressions, fleeing from darkness , the truth, grace, joy, the flesh 
and blood of the Lord, the judgment, forgiveness of sins, the love 
of God to us, the commandment given us of love to one another, 
that ive ought to keep all the commandments, the conviction of the 
world, the devil, of anti-christ, the promise of the holy spirit, the 
adoption of God (i, e. the adoption made by God), the faith to he 
exhibited by us in all matters, the Father and the Son, every where 
occurring in both. And altogether throughout, to attentive ob- 
servers, it will be obvious that there is one and the same com- 
plexion and character in the gospel and epistle. Very different 
and remote from all this, is the apocalypse ; not even touching, or 
even bordering upon them in the least, I might say. Not even 
containing a syllable in common with them ; but the epistle, to 
say nothing of the gospel, has not made any mention, or given 
any intimation of the apocalypse, nor does the apocalypse men- 
tion the epistle. Whereas, Paul indicates something of his reve- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 301 

lations in his epistles; which, however, he never recorded in 
writing. 

" We may, also, notice how the phraseology of the gospel and 
the epistle differs from the apocalypse. For the former are 
written not only irreprehensibly, as it regards the Greek language, 
but are most elegant in diction in the arguments and the whole 
structure of the style. It would require much to discover any 
barbarism or solecism, or any odd peculiarity of expression* at 
all in them. For, as is to be presumed, he w^as endued with all 
the requisites for his discourse: the Lord having granted him 
both that of knowledge and that of expression and style. That 
the latter, however, saw a revelation, and received knowledge 
and prophecy, I do not deny. But I perceive that his dialect and 
language is not very accurate Greek ; but that he uses barbarous 
idioms, and in some places solecisms, which it is now unneces- 
sary to select ; for neither would I have any one suppose that 
I am sa5dng these things by way of derision, but only with the 
view to point out the great diflference between the writings of 
these men." 



CHAPTER XXVL 

The epistles of Dionysius, 



Besides these, there are many other epistles of Dionysius ex- 
tant, as those to Ammon, bishop of the church at Bernice, against 
Sabellius ; another to Telesphorus, and one to Euphranor : 
another to Ammon and Euporus. He wrote also four books on 
the same subject, which he addressed to his namesake Dionysius 
at Rome. There are also many other epistles beside these writ- 
ten by him, together with longer treatises in the form of epistles, 
as those addressed to the youth Timothy, and that On Tempta- 
tions, which he also dedicated to Euphranor. He also says, in a 
letter to Basilides, bishop (of the churches) of Pentapolis, that he 

* We have here paraphrased the word iStono-fiiOi, 



302 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

had written a commentary on the beginning of Ecclesiastes. But 
he has also left us several epistles addressed to the same Basili- 
des. These are the works of Dionysius. Having given this 
account, let us now proceed to inform posterity of the nature and 
character of our own age. 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

Paul ofSamosatat and the heresy introduced hy him at AntiocL 

Xystus had been bishop of Rome eleven years, when he was 
succeeded by Dionysius, the namesake of the bishop of Alexan- 
dria. At this time also, Demetrianus dying at Antioch, the epis- 
copate was conferred on Paul of Samosata. As he entertained 
low and degrading notions of Christ, contrary to the doctrine of 
the church, and taught that he was in nature but a common man, 
the Dionysius of Alexandria being invited to attend the council, 
urged his age and the infirmity of his body, as his reason for de- 
ferring his attendance, but gave his sentiments of the subject be- 
fore them in an epistle. But the other heads of churches, assem- 
bled in all haste from different parts, at Antioch, as against one 
who was committing depredations on the flock of Christ. 



CHAPTER XXVIIL 

The different bishops then distinguished. 

Among these, the most eminent were Firmilianus, bishop of 
Cesarea in Cappadocia, Gregory and Athenodorus, brothers and 
pastors of the churches in Pontus ; also Helenus, bishop of the 
church at Tarsus, and Nicomas, of Iconium ; besides Hyme- 
naeus of the church at Jerusalem, and Theotecnus, of the adja- 
cent church at Cesarea : moreover, Maximinus, who governed 
the brethren at Bostra with great celebrity. The vast number 
of others, both presbyters and deacons, that assembled in the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY- 303 

said city, for the same cause, one could hardly number, but these 
were the most distinguished ; all, therefore, having convened at 
different times and frequently, various subjects and questions 
were agitated at every meeting : the adherents of the Samosa- 
tians, attempting to conceal and cover over their heterodoxy, but 
at the same time those on the other side used every effort to un- 
mask and bring to light the heresy, and the blasphemy, of the men 
against Christ. In the mean time Dionysius died, in the tw^elfth 
year of the reign of Gallienus, having presided over the church 
of Alexandria seventeen years. He was succeeded by Maximi- 
nus. But Gallienus reigned fifteen years in all, w^hen he was 
succeeded by Claudius, who, after the lapse of two years, trans- 
ferred the government to Aurehan. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Paul refuted hy a certain Malchion, one of the presbyters who had 
been a sophist, was deposed. 

It was in the reign of this emperor, when a final council was 
convened, in which a great number of bishops was present, and 
this arch heretic at Antioch being detected, and now evidently 
discarded by all, was now excommunicated from the whole 
catholic church under heaven. He was refuted, however, and 
argued out of his lurking place, chiefly by Malchion ; a man 
well versed in other departments of learning, and who had been 
at the head of the sophist's Greek school of sciences at Antioch ; 
but who also, on account of his great and sincere faith in Christ, 
was honoured with the office of presbyter in that church. This 
man indeed, was the only one who, after commencing the dis- 
cussion with him, which, as there were ready writers that took 
down the whole, we know to be now extant, was able to ferret 
out the sly and deceitful sentiments of the man. 



304 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



CHAPTER XXX. 



The epistle of the council against Paul. 

The pastors, therefore, who had been convened, having drawn 
up an epistle, by common consent addressed it to Dionysius bishop 
of Rome, and to Maximus of Alexandria, and sent it to all the pro- 
vinces. In this, they set forth their own zeal to all, and the per- 
verse doctrine of Paul, together with the arguments and discus- 
sions which they had had with him ; stating at the same time, the 
whole life and conduct of the man, from whose statement it may 
be well perhaps to give the following extracts for the present. 
The epistle : " To Dionysius and Maximus, and to all our fellow- 
ministers throughout the world, the bishops and presbyters and 
deacons, and to the whole catholic church throughout the world 
under heaven : Helenus, Hymenaeus, and Theophilus, and Theo- 
tecnus, and Maximus, Proculus, Nicomas and iElianus, Paul and 
Bolanus and Protogenes, Hierax, and Eutychius and Theodorus, 
and Malchion and Lucius, and all the rest, who are bishops, 
presbyters, or deacons, dwelling with us, in the neighbouring 
cities, and nations, together with the churches of God, wish 
joy to the beloved brethren in the Lord." After a short prelimi- 
nary, the following is subjoined : " We have addressed epistles, 
and at the same time have exhorted many of the bishops at a 
distance, to come to our rehef from this destructive doctrine: 
among these, to Dionysius the bishop of Alexandria, and Firmi- 
lianus of Cappadocia, those holy men, of whom the one wrote to 
Antioch, not even deigning to honour the leader in this delusion 
with an address, nor writing to him in his name, but to the whole 
church, of which epistle we have also added a copy. But Fir- 
milianus who came twice to Antioch, despised his new fangled 
doctrines, as we who were present, and many others besides, 
well know, and can attest. But as he promised to change his 
mind, he believed him, and hoped that, without any reproach 
upon the word, the matter would be settled in a proper manner. 
He deferred it therefore ; in which, however, he was deceived 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 305 

by this denier of his God and Lord, and this deserter of his former 
faith. Firmihanus was now, also, on his way to Antioch, and 
had come as far as Tarsus, because he had before made trial of 
his infidel wickedness : but whilst we were thus collecting and re- 
questing him to come, and awaiting his arrival, he departed this 
life." 

After these, and other matters, they also describe what kind 
of a life the man led, as follows : " But in those instances where 
he abandoned the rule of faith, and went over to spurious and 
corrupt doctrines before, there is no necessity of judging his 
conduct, when he was yet in no connexion with the church ; 
nor that he was in poverty and beggary ; and that he who had 
received neither wealth from his fathers, nor obtained possessions 
by any art, or any trade or business, has now arrived at ex- 
cessive wealth, by his iniquities and sacrileges, and by those 
various means which he employed to exact and extort from the 
brethren, depressing the injured, and promising to aid them for 
a reward ; and yet how he deceived them, and without doing 
them any good, took advantage of the readiness of those who 
were in difficulties, to make them give any thing in order to be 
freed from their oppressors. We shall say nothing of his making 
merchandise of piety; (1 Tim. 6.) nor how he afiected lofty things, 
and assumed with great haughtiness worldly dignities, wishing 
rather to be called a magistrate (ducenarius) than a bishop, strut- 
ting through the forum, and reading letters, and repeating them 
as he walked in public, and how he was escorted by multitudes 
going before and following after him: how he, also, brought 
envy and odium upon the faith, by his pomp, and the haughti- 
ness of his heart. We shall say nothing of the vanity and pre- 
tensions with which he contrived, in our ecclesiastical assemblies, 
to catch at glory and empty shadows, and to confound the minds 
of the more simple, with such things as these ; nothing of his 
preparing himself a tribunal and throne, not as a disciple of 
Christ, but having, Hke the rulers of this world, a secretum,* and 



* The secretum, was the exclusive seat or place where the magistrate sat to de- 
cide cases. It was elevated and enclosed with railings and curtains, so as the more 

2a 



306 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

calling it by this name ; nothing of his striking his thigh and his 
stamping on the tribunal with his feet, and his reproving and in- 
sulting those that did not applaud nor clap* as in the theatres, 
nor exclaim and leap about at these things with his partisans, 
men and women around him, who were the indecent Hsteners to 
these things ; but I say, reproving those that w^ere modestly and 
orderly hearing as in the house of God : nothing of his harsh in- 
vectives in the congregation, against the expounders of the word, 
who had departed this life, and of his magnifying himself, not 
as a bishop, but as a sophist and juggler. Besides this, he stop- 
ped the psalms that were sung in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
as the late compositions of modern men, but in honour of himself 
he had prepared women to sing at the great festival in the midst 
of the church, which one might shudder to hear. He suborned, 
also, those bishops and presbyters of the neighbouring districts 
and cities of his party, to advance the same things in their ad- 
dresses to the people. For if we may here anticipate something 
of what we intend to write below, he does not wish to confess 
with us that the Son of God descended from heaven. And this 
we do not intend merely to assert in words, but it is proved 
abundantly from those records that we have sent you, and that 
too not the least, where he says that Jesus is from below. Whilst 
they who sing to his praise, and extol him among the people, say 
that he has descended as an angel from heaven. And these 
things he by no means prohibits, but the haughty mortal is even 
present when they are said. And as to these women, these 
adopted sisters,t as the inhabitants of Antioch call them, which 
belong to him, and the presbyters and deacons about him, whose 
incurable sins, in this and other respects, he conceals with them, 

effectually to keep the magistrate separate from those present. Hence its name 
from the Latin secerno, to separate. The Latin word is used in the Greek text 
here. 

* The practice here referred to, was that of shaking and striking the oraria, or 
linen handkerchiefs, in token of applause. It was accompanied with other expres- 
sions of popular approbation. 

■j- The words literally mean, sub-introduced sisters, a sort of female compa- 
nions, on such terms of familiarity as gave occasion to scandal. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 307 

though he is conscious of the facts, and has convicted them, he 
dissembles, in order to have them subservient to his purposes ; so 
that fearing for themselves, they dare not venture to accuse him 
in regard to his impious conduct and doctrine. Besides this, he 
has made them rich, for which he is both beloved and admired 
by those who covet these things. But why should we write 
these things ? For beloved, we know that the bishop and all the 
clergy ought to be an example to the people of all good works. 
Nor are we ignorant how many, by the introduction of such fe- 
males, have fallen, or have incurred suspicion. So that should any 
one even grant, that nothing disgraceful has been done by him, 
yet it was a duty to avoid, at least, the suspicion growing out of 
the matter ; so that no one might take offence, nor any be induced 
to imitate him. For how could any one reprove or admonish 
another to beware of yielding too much to this famiharity with a 
woman, lest perchance, he should slip, as it is written ; especially 
when, after having already dismissed one, he retains two others 
with him, blooming in age and eminent for beauty, and takes 
them with him wherever he goes ; and all this, too, indulging in 
luxury and surfeiting, on account of which things all around them 
are groaning and lamenting. But they are so much afraid of 
his tyranny and powder, that they do not venture to accuse him. 
And these matters, indeed, one might perhaps correct, in a man 
who was of the catholic faith, and associated with us ; but as 
to one who has trifled away the sacred mystery (of religion,) and 
who parades wdth the execrable heresy of Artemas, (for why 
should we not mention his father,) we deem it unnecessary to 
exact of him a reason for all these things." 

After this, at the close of the epistle, they add the following : 
" We have been compelled, therefore, to excommunicate this man 
who sets himself up in opposition to God, and is unwilling to yield, 
and to appoint another bishop in his place over the catholic church ; 
and this wx trust, with the providence of God, viz., Domnus the 
son of Demetrianus, of blessed memorj^, and who before this pre- 
sided with much honour over the same church, a man we believe 
fully endowed with all the excellent qualities of a bishop. We 
have also communicated this to you, that you may write, and 



308 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

receive letters of communion from him. But the other may 
write to Artemas if he pleases, and those that think with Arte 
mas may have communion with him." And this may suffice in 
this place. Paul, therefore, having thus fallen from the episco- 
pate, together with the true faith, as already said, Domnus suc- 
ceeded in the administration of the church at Antioch. But Paul 
being unwilling to leave the building of the church, an appeal 
was made to the emperor Aurelian, who decided most equitably 
on the business, ordering the building to be given up to those 
whom the Christian bishops of Italy and Rome should write. 
Thus, then, this man was driven out of the church with extreme 
disgrace, by the temporal power itself And such was the dis- 
position of Aurelian at this time ; but in the progress of his reign, 
he began to cherish different sentiments with regard to us, and 
then proceeded, influenced by certain advisers, to raise a persecu- 
tion against us. And the rumor of this was now every where 
abroad. But whilst he was already on the point, and so to say, 
in the very act of subscribing the decrees, the divine vengeance 
overtook him, all but, as we might say, restraining him from his 
design at the very elbow, and illustriously proving to all, that 
there can be no privilege granted the rulers of the world against 
the churches of Christ, unless by the sovereign hand of God, and 
the decree of heaven permitting it to be done for our correction 
and amendment, and in those times and seasons that he may ap- 
prove. Aurelian, therefore, after a reign of six years, was suc- 
ceeded by Probus, and he held the government the same number 
of years, when he was succeeded by Carus, together with Ca- 
rianus and Numerianus. These again did not continue three 
full years, when the government devolved on Diocletian, and 
those subsequently associated with him. In their times the per- 
secution of our own day was begun, and the destruction of the 
churches at the same time ; but a little before this, Dionysius, who 
had been bishop of Rome for nine years, was succeeded by Felix. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 309 

CHAPTER XXXL 

The error of the Manichees, which commenced at this time. 

In the mean time, also, that madman Qiavag tag (ppevag) Ma- 
nes, * as he was called, well agreeing with his name, for his dasmo- 
niacal heresy, armed himself by the perversion of his reason, and 
at the instigation of Satan, to the destruction of many. He was 
a barbarian in his life, both in speech and conduct, but in his 
nature as one possessed and insane. Accordingly, he attempted 
to form himself into a Christ, and then also proclaimed himself to 
be the very paracletef and the Holy Spirit, and with all this was 
greatly puffed up with his madness. Then, as if he were Christ, 
he selected twelve disciples, the partners of his new religion, and 
after patching together false and ungodly doctrines, collected from 
a thousand heresies long since extinct, he swept them off like a 
deadly poison, from Persia, upon this part of the world. Hence 
the impious name of the Manichees spreading among many, even 
to the present day. Such then was the occasion of this know- 
ledge, as it was falsely called, that sprouted up in these times. 

* Our author here uses an epithet, ^avsig, instead of the proper name of this here- 
tic. Eusebius here taking occasion to rail at the folly of Manes, by an allusion to 
his name, finds a word in his own language which seems to characterise, whilst it 
gives his name nearly. We cannot, however, infer firom this, that Eusebius consi- 
dered the name Greek. He doubtless knew as well as we, that Manes was a Per- 
sian name, or at least that it was not Greek. But he wanted nothing more than 
similarity of sound for his purpose. 

Shorting is mistaken in supposing our author here to intimate the word was 
Greek. The truth is, the orientals call the name Mani, whence the Greek and 
Latin Manes, The resemblance of this name to the Greek iwai's'?, madman, gave 
our author an opportunity to exercise his wit, by the application of the epithet with- 
out the name. 

■j- Paraclete.'] See note, Book V. ch. 16. The names of three prominent lea- 
ders in delusion, to whom the holy epithet paraclete was either applied, or by whom 
it was claimed, however diiFerent their errors, seem almost to coalesce by allitera- 
tion ; Montanus, Manes, Mahomet ; the first a deluded and ignorant fanatic, the 
second a crazed philosopher, and the third an ambitious, artful voluptuary, present- 
ing a singular concordia discors, all at antipodes in doctrine, yet all aspiring to the 
exalted attributes of the Pai-aclete. 



310 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Of those distinguished ecclesiastical writers of our own day, and 
which of them survived until the destruction of the churches. 

At this time Felix, having held the episcopate at Rome five 
years, was succeeded by Eutychianus, and he did not hold the 
office quite ten months, when he left his place to be occupied by 
Caius of our own day. Caius, also, presided about fifteen years, 
when he was succeeded by Marcellinus. He was overtaken by 
the persecution, and in these times, also, Timaeus, after Domnus, 
governed the church of Antioch, who was succeeded by our 
contemporary Cyrillus, under whom we have known Dorotheus, 
a learned man, who was honoured with the rank of presbyter of 
Antioch at that time. He was a man of fine taste in sacred 
literature, and was much devoted to the study of the Hebrew 
language, so that he read the Hebrew Scriptures with great 
facility. He, also, was of a very liberal mind, and not unac- 
quainted with the preparatory studies pursued among the Greeks, 
but in other respects a eunuch by nature, having been such from 
his birth ; so that the emperor, on this account, as if it were a great 
miracle, received him into his house and family, and honoured him 
with an appointment over the purple dye establishment of Tyre. 
Him we have heard in the church expounding the Scriptures 
with great judgment; after Cyrillus, the duties of the episcopal 
office in the church of Alexandria were administered by his sus- 
cessor Tyrannus, under whom the destruction of the churches 
took place. At Laodicea, the church was governed by Eusebius, 
the successor of Socrates, who was sprung from an Alexandrian 
family. The occasion of his removal was the affair respecting 
Paul of Samosat, on which account having come to Syria, he 
was prevented from returning home by those who took great in- 
terest in the Scriptures there. He was also an amiable instance 
of religion among our contemporaries, as may be readily seen in 
those extracts from Dionysius, which we have inserted above. 
Anatolius was appointed his successor, a good man, as they say, in 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 311 

the place of the good. He, too, was an Alexandrian. But for his 
learning and skill in the Greek philosophy, he was superior to 
any of the most distinguished men of our day, as he had attain- 
ed unto the highest eminence in arithmetic, geometry, and astro- 
nomy, besides his proficiency in dialectics, and physics, and 
rhetoric. On this account it is said, that he was also requested 
by the Alexandrians to establish a school there of the succession 
(or order) of Aristotle. They relate innumerable achievements 
of his at the siege of the Bruchium,* at Alexandria, as he was 
honoured by all in office, with extraordinary distinction ; but as 
a specimen, we shall only mention this. — When the bread, as 
they say, failed in the siege, so that they were better able to 
sustain their enemies from without than the famine within, Ana- 
toHus being present, devised a project like the following. As the 
other part of the city was in alliance with the Roman army, 
and therefore happened not to be besieged, he sent to inform 
Eusebius, who was among those not besieged, for he was yet 
there before his removal to Syria, and was very celebrated, and 
in high repute even with the Roman general, to inform him of 
the siege and those perishing with famine. On learning this, he 
begs of the Roman general to grant safety to those who would 
desert from the enemy, as the greatest favour he could grant 
him. Obtaining his request, he immediately communicates it to 
Anatolius, The latter receiving the promise, collected the 
senate of Alexandria, and at first began to propose that they 
should come to a reconciliation with the Romans. But as he per- 
ceived that they were incensed at the suggestion, he said, But I 
do not think you will oppose me, if I should advise you to send forth 
the superfluous number, and those that are of no use to us, the 
old women and children, and old men, and let them go where they 
wish. For why should w^e keep those with us, who will ere long 
at any rate die to no purpose ? and why should we destroy with 
famine those that are already bereft of sight and mutilated in 
body ? We ought to feed only men and youth, and furnish the 

* The Bruchium here mentioned, was a part of Alexandria ; it seems derived 
from srupovxo;, anuonx prsfectus, and was a kind of corn-market. 



312 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

necessary provisions to those that are necessary for the defence 
of the city. With such reasoning, having persuaded the senate, 
he v^^as the first that rose and proposed the resolution, that the 
whole multitude whether of men or women, that were not need- 
ed for the army, should be dismissed from the city, because there 
would be no hope of safety at all for them, who, at any rate 
were about to perish with the famine, if they continued and 
lingered in the city until the state of affairs was desperate. All 
the rest of the senate agreeing to this decree, he nearly saved 
the whole of the besieged ; among the first providing, that those 
of the church, then those of every age in the town, should make 
their escape, and among these not only those that were included 
in the decree, but taking the opportunity, many others, secretly 
clad in women's clothes, went out of the city by his management 
at night, and proceeded to the Roman camp. There Eusebius 
receiving them all, like a father and physician, recovered them, 
wasted away by a protracted siege, with every kind of attention 
to their wants. With two such pastors in succession, was the 
church of Laodicea honoured by the divine interposition, who 
after the termination of the war mentioned, had left the city of 
Alexandria, and came to these parts. But in other respects not 
many books were written by Anatolius ; so many, however, have 
come down to us, by which we may both learn his eloquence 
and erudition. In these he sets forth his opinions on the Pass- 
over, from which it might be proper to extract the following : — 
Extracts from the Canons of AnatoHus on the Paschal Festi- 
val. " You have, therefore, in the first year, the new moon of 
the first month, which is the beginning of every cycle of nineteen 
years, on the twenty-sixth of the Egyptian month Phamenoth. 
But according to the months of the Macedonians the twenty- 
second of Dystrus. But as the Romans would say, before the 
eleventh of the calends of April. But the sun is found on the 
said twenty-sixth of the month Phamenoth, not only as entering 
the first segment (of the zodiac), but on the fourth day is already 
found passing through it. But this segment they generally call 
the first dodecatomorium, and the equinox, and the beginning of 
the months, and the head of the cycle, and the head of the pla- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 313 

netary course. But that (segment) before this, they call the last 
of the months, the twelfth segment, and the last dodecatemorium, 
and the end of the planetary revolution. Hence, also, those that 
place the first month in it, and that fix the fourteenth of the 
month by it, commit, as we think, no little and no common 
blunder. But neither is this our opinion only, but it was also 
known to the Jews anciently, and before Christ, and was chiefly 
observed by them, as we may learn from Philo, Josephus, and 
Musseus ; and not only from these, but also from those still more 
ancient, i. e. the two Agathobuli, commonly called the masters, 
and of Aristobulus, that most distinguished scholar, who was one 
of the seventy that translated the holy Scriptures from the He- 
brew for Ptolemy Philadelphus, and his father, and dedicated 
his exposition of the law of Moses to the same kings. These, 
when they resolve inquiries on Exodus, say that all ought to 
sacrifice the passover alike after the vernal equinox, in the mid- 
dle of the first month. But this is found to be when the sun 
passes through the first segment of the solar, or, as some call it, 
the zodiacal circle. But this Aristobulus also adds, it was re- 
quisite that not only the sun should have passed the equinoctial 
segment for the feast of the passover, but the moon also. For 
as there are two equinoctial segments, the vernal and the au- 
tumnal, and diametrically opposite to each other, and since the 
day of the passover is given on the fourteenth of the month at 
the evening, the moon will stand diametrically opposite to the 
sun, as may be seen in full moons. Thus the sun will be at the 
vernal equinox, the moon, on the contrary, at the autumnal equi- 
nox. 

" Many other matters, I know, have been discussed by him ; 
some of them with great probability, others established with the 
most certain demonstrations, in which he attempts to show that 
the festival of the passover, and of unleavened bread, ought to 
be observed altogether after the equinox ; but I shall omit de- 
manding such full demonstrations of matters from which the veil 
of the Mosaic law has been removed ; and it now remains for 
us, in this uncovered surface, to contemplate, as in a mirror, the 
reflected doctrines and sufferings of Christ. But that the first 

2R 



314 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

month of the Hebrews is about the equinox, may be gathered 
from the book of Enoch." 

The same author has also left an elementary work, On Calcu- 
lation, ten books in all ; and other proofs of his great study and 
proficiency in sacred literature. Theotecnus, bishop of Cesarea 
in Palestine, was the first that laid his hands upon him in his or- 
dination to the episcopate, designing to constitute him his succes- 
sor in his own church after his death ; and, indeed, both of them 
presided for a short time over the same church. But when the 
synod at Antioch called him to Antioch against Paul, as he passed 
through the city of Laodicea, Eusebius, the bishop of that place 
being dead, he was constrained by the brethren to remain. And 
Anatolius also dying, Stephen was made bishop of that church, 
the last bishop before the persecution ; a man greatly admired 
for his knowledge of philosophy, and other branches of Greek 
learning. But he was not equally disposed towards the divine 
faith, as the progress of the persecution evinced ; in which he 
was proved to be timid and cowardly, rather than a sound phi- 
losopher. The affairs of the church, however, were not likely 
to be ruined by this, for these were corrected and restored by 
Theodotus, who, under 'a special providence of God, the saviour 
of all, was ordained bishop of the church there ; and by his deeds 
proved the reality of his name (given of God), and of his office 
as bishop. For he excelled in his knowledge of the medical art, 
as applied to the body, and was skilled in that healing art which 
is applied to the soul. No one was ever his equal in kindness, 
sincerity, sympathy, and a zeal to benefit those that needed his 
aid. He was, also, much exercised in the study of divine things. 
Such was he. 

But at Cesarea in Palestine, Theotecnus, after a most diligent 
and active episcopate, was succeeded at his death by Agapius. 
Him we know to have laboured much, and to have kept a most 
thorough oversight in superintending the people, and with his 
liberal hand to have paid regard especially to the poor. In 
his time, we were acquainted with that most eloquent man, and 
truly practical philosopher, who was honoured with the rank of 
presbyter in that church ; I mean Pamphilus, whose character 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 315 

and greatness would be no trifling subject to elucidate. But we 
have dwelt in a separate work on the particulars of his life, and 
the school which he established, as also the trials which he en- 
dured amid the persecution in the different confessions, and be- 
sides this, the death of martyrdom with which he was crowned. 
He, indeed, was the most admirable of all here. Among the very 
eminent men that have flourished near our own times, of presby- 
ters we have known Pierius of Alexandria, Melchius also bishop 
of the churches in Pontus. The former indeed was greatly ce- 
lebrated for his voluntary poverty, and his philosophical know- 
ledge, and was abundantly exercised in expositions of the Scrip- 
tures, and the discourses in the public assemblies of the church. 
But Miletius was called by the learned, the honey (jlleXc) of At- 
tica, and was the most perfect original of learned men that 
could be described. It is impossible also to admire sufficiently the 
superiority of his eloquence : it might be said perhaps that he 
derived this from nature, but who is there that could excel him 
in the excellence of his other skill and erudition. For in all the 
sciences that require the exercise of argumentation, if you were 
to make trial, you would readily say that he was a most subtle 
and acute reasoner. The virtues of his life were also a paral- 
lel to these. We have had the opportunity of observing him 
during the persecution, escaping its fury for seven years, in the 
regions of Palestine. But the church of Jerusalem, after Hy- 
menasus, was under the episcopal care of Zambdas, and he not 
long after dying, Hermon was the last before the persecution of 
our day ; the same that now holds the apostoHc chair preserved 
there to this day. At Alexandria, however, Maximus, who 
held the episcopal office eighteen years after the death of Diony- 
sius, was succeeded by Theonas. In his time Achillas, who had 
been honoured with the order of presbyter, was noted at Alexan- 
dria, having entrusted to him the school for religious instruction. 
In his life and actions he exhibited a most rare instance of sound 
wisdom, and a genuine specimen of evangeHcal deportment. But 
after Theonas had discharged the duties of the office nineteen 
years, he was succeeded in the episcopate of Alexandria by Pe- 
ter, who was also very eminent, and held the office twelve years ; 



316 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

nearly three of which he governed the church, before the perse- 
cution ; but the rest of his life he subjected himself to a more rigid 
course of discipline, but still continued to manifest great interest 
in advancing the welfare of the church. Hence, in the ninth year 
of the persecution he was beheaded, and thus obtained the crown 
of martyrdom. But after giving in our history an account of 
the successors, since the birth of our Saviour until the demolition 
of the churches, embracing a period of three hundred and five 
years, now let us here attempt to give the conflicts which have 
been endured in the cause of religion, in our own times, in all 
their extent and magnitude, that it may be on record also for the 
benefit of posterity. 



1 



J 



BOOK VIII. 



Having already related the successions of the apostles in seven 
books, in this eighth we consider it necessary to record, for the 
benefit of posterity, the events of our own times that deserve a 
more than superficial narration. And our account, therefore, 
shall begin with these. 



CHAPTER I. 

The events that jyreceded the 'persecution in our times. 

To give a satisfactory account of the extent, and the nature of 
that glory and liberty, with which the doctrine of piety towards 
the supreme God, as announced to the world through Christ, was 
honoured among all, both Greeks and barbarians, before the per- 
secution in our day, this, we say, were an undertaking beyond 
our power. As a proof, we might refer to the clemency of the 
emperors toward our brethren, to whom they even entrusted the 
government of provinces, exonerating them from all anxiety as it 
regarded sacrificing, on account of that singular good will that 
they entertained toward the doctrine. Why should we speak 
of those in the imperial palaces, and the sovereigns themselves, 
who granted their domestics the liberty of declaring themselves 
freely, in word and deed, on religion, and I would say almost the 
liberty of boasting of their freedom in the practice of the faith ? 
These, indeed, they eminently valued, and considered them as 
more acceptable than their associates in the imperial service. 

Such was that Dorotheus, the most devoted and most faithful 
of all to them, and, on this account, exceedingly honoured beyond 
all those that had the charge of government, and the most honour- 

317 



318 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

able stations in the provinces. We may also add Gorgonius, 
equally celebrated with him; and so many others that were 
honoured with the same distinction as these on account of the 
divine word. The same privileges one could observe conferred 
on the rulers in every church, who were courted and honoured 
with the greatest subserviency by all the rulers and governors. 
Who could describe those vast collections of men that flocked to 
the religion of Christ, and those multitudes crowding in from every 
city, and the illustrious concourse in the houses of worship ? On 
whose account, not content with the ancient buildings, they 
erected spacious churches from the foundation in all the cities. 
These, advancing in the lapse of time, and daily increasing in 
magnitude and improvement, were not restrained by any odium 
or hostility. Nor was any malignant dsemon able to infatuate, 
nor human machinations prevent them, as long as the providential 
hand of God superintended and guarded his people as the worthy 
objects of his care. But when, by reason of excessive liberty, 
we sunk into negligence and sloth, one envying and reviling an- 
other in different ways, and we were almost, as it were, on the 
point of taking up arms against each other, and were assailing 
each other with words as with darts and spears, prelates inveigh- 
ing against prelates, and people rising up against people, and 
hypocrisy and dissimulation had arisen to the greatest height of 
malignity, then the divine judgment, which usually proceeds with 
a lenient hand, whilst the multitudes were yet crowding into the 
church, with gentle and mild visitations began to afflict its epis- 
copacy ; the persecution having begun with those brethren that 
were in the army. But, as if destitute of all sensibility, we were 
not prompt in measures to appease and propitiate the Deity ; some, 
indeed, like atheists, regarding our situation as unheeded and 
unobserved by a providence, we added one wickedness and misery 
to another. But some that appeared to be our pastors, deserting 
the law of piety, were inflamed against each other with mutual 
strifes, only accumulating quarrels and threats, rivalship, hostility 
and hatred to each other, only anxious to assert the government 
as a kind of sovereignty for themselves. Then, as Jeremiah says, 
*' the Lord in his anger darkened the daughter of Sion, and hurled 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 319 

from heaven to earth the glory of Israel. Neither did he remem- 
ber his footstool in the day of his wrath. But the Lord, also, 
overwhelmed all the beauty of Israel, and tore down all his 
walls." And, as it is predicted in the Psalms, " He overturned 
the covenant of his servant, and he prostrated his sanctuary to 
the earth," by the demolition of the churches. " He has destroyed 
all his walls, and has made all his bulwarks fear. All the multi- 
tudes that pass through have ravaged him, and hence he has be- 
come a reproach to his neighbours. For he has exalted the right 
arm of his enemies, and has turned away the help of his sword, nor 
aided him in war. But he has also deprived him of his purifica- 
tion, and his throne he has cast to the ground. He has shortened 
the days of his time, and has poured upon him all his disgrace." 



CHAPTER IL 

The demolition of the churches. 



All this has been fulfilled in our day, when we saw, with our 
own eyes, our houses of worship thrown down from their eleva- 
tion, the sacred Scriptures of inspiration committed to the flames 
in the midst of the markets, the shepherds of the people basely 
concealed here and there, some of them ignominiously captured, 
and the sport of their enemies ; when, also, according to another 
prophetic declaration, " contempt was poured out upon their 
rulers, and he has made them to err in a trackless by-path, and 
where there is no road." 

But it is not for me to describe fully the sorrowful calamities 
which they endured, since neither does it belong to me to record the 
dissensions and follies which they exercised against each other 
before the persecution. Hence, also, we have purposed not to 
extend our narration beyond the events in which we perceive the 
just judgment of God. Hence, also, we shall not make mention 
of those that were shaken by the persecution, nor of those that 
suffered shipwreck in their salvation, and of their own accord 



320 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

were sunk into the depths of .the watery gulph. But we shall 
only, upon the whole, introduce those events in our history that 
may be profitable first to us of the present day, and hereafter to 
posterity. Now let us proceed to describe, in a condensed ac- 
count, the holy conflicts of the witnesses of divine truth. 

It was the nineteenth year of the reign of Diocletian, and 
the month of Dystrus, called by the Romans March, in which the 
festival of our Saviour's passion was at hand, when the imperial 
edicts were every where pubUshed, to tear down the churches 
to the foundation, and to destroy the sacred Scriptures by fire, 
and which commanded, also, that those who were in honourable 
stations, should be degraded, but those who were freedmen 
should be deprived of their liberty, if they persevered in their 
adherence to Christianity. The first edict against us was of this 
nature ; but it was not long before other edicts were also issued, 
in which it was ordered that all the prelates in every place, 
should first be committed to prison, and then, by every artifice 
constrained to offer sacrifice to the gods. 



CHAPTER III. 



The nature of the coriflicts endured by the martyrs, in the per- 
secution. 

Then, indeed, vast numbers of the prelates of the church en- 
dured with a noble resolution the most appalling trials, and ex- 
hibited instances of illustrious conflicts for the faith. Vast num- 
bers, however, of others, broken and relaxed in spirit, by timidity 
before the contest, voluntarily yielded at the first onset. But of 
the rest, each encountered various kinds of torments. Here was 
one that was scourged with rods, there another tormented with 
the rack and excruciating scrapings, in which some at the time 
endured the most terrible death ; others again passed through other 
torments in the struggle. Here one, whilst some forced him to 
the impure and detestable sacrifices, was again dismissed, as if 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 321 

he had sacrificed, although this was not the case. There another, 
though he had not in the least approached the altar, not even 
touched the unholy thing, yet when others said that he had sacri- 
ficed, went aw^ay, bearing the calumny in silence. Here one, 
again taken up w^hen half dead, was thrown out as if he were 
already dead ; there another, again lying upon the ground, was 
dragged a long distance by the feet, and numbered among those 
that had sacrificed. One, however, would cry out, and with a 
loud voice declared his abhorrence of the sacrifice. Another ex- 
claimed that he w^as a Christian, furnishing, by confession, an 
illustrious example of this salutary name. Another asserted that 
he neither had sacrificed nor intended to sacrifice: but these 
were forced to silence by numerous bands of soldiers, prepared 
for this purpose, by whom they were struck on the face and 
cheeks, and violently driven away. Thus the enemies of reli- 
gion, upon the whole, deemed it a great matter even to appear 
to have gained some advantage. But these things did not avail 
them much against the saints, to give an exact account of whom 
no description could suffice. 



CHAPTER IV. 



The illustrious martyrs of God, who filled every place with the 
celebrity of their name, and obtained various crowns of mar- 
tyrdom for their piety. 

Many instances might be related of those who exhibited noble 
alacrity in the cause of that religion which acknowledges only 
the one Supreme God, and that not only from the time that the 
general persecution was raised, but also long before, when all 
was yet in a state of peace. Already then, when he who had 
received such power, w^as first roused as from a deep slumber, 
he had secretly and unobserved, been plotting after the times of 
Decius and Valerian, how to assault the churches ; but he did not 
all at once, nor in a mass, wage an open war against us, but as 
yet only made trial of those that were in the armies. For in 

2S 



322 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

this way he supposed that the rest could easily be taken, if he 
could first succeed in subduing these. Then one could see great 
numbers of the military, most cheerfully embracing a private life, 
so as not to renounce their reverence for the Supreme Creator 
of the universe. For when the general, whoever he was, first 
undertook the persecution against the soldiers, he began by a re- 
view and lustration of those that were enrolled in the army, 
and gave them their choice, either to enjoy the honour conferred 
upon them if they obeyed, or on the contrary to be deprived of 
this, if they disobeyed the command. Very many who were sol- 
diers in the kingdom of Christ, without hesitating, preferred the 
confession of his name to that apparent glory and comfort which 
they enjoyed, and of these a few here and there exchanged their 
honours, not only for degradation but even for death, for their 
perseverance in religion. These last, however, were not yet 
many, as the great instigator of these violent measures had, as 
yet, but moderately proceeded, and ventured only so far as to 
shed the blood of some only. The great number of the believers, 
probably deterred and caused him to shrink from a general 
attack upon all ; but when he began to arm more openly, it is 
impossible to tell how many and how eminent those were that 
presented themselves in every place and city and country, as 
martyrs in the cause of Christ. 



CHAPTER V. 

The affairs of Nicomedia, 



Immediately on the first promulgation of the edict, a certain 
man of no mean origin, but highly esteemed for his temporal dig- 
nities, as soon as the decree was published against the churches 
in Nicomedia, stimulated by a divine zeal, and exerted by an 
ardent faith, took it as it was openly placed and posted up for 
public inspection, and tore it to pieces as a most profane and 
wicked act. This, too, was done when two of the Cesar's were 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 323 

in the city, the first of whom was the eldest and chief of all ; 
and the other held the fourth grade of the imperial dignity after 
him. But this man, as the first that was distinguished there in 
this manner, after enduring what was lilvely to follow an act so 
daring, preserved his mind calm and serene until the moment 
when his spirit fled. 



CHAPTER VL 

Those that were in the palace. 



But of all those that were celebrated, or admired for their 
courage, whether among Greeks or barbarians, these times pro- 
duced noble and illustrious martyrs, in the case of Dorotheus and 
his associates, domestics, in the imperial palace. These though 
honoured with the highest dignity by their masters, and treated 
by them with not less affection than their own children, esteem- 
ed the reproaches and trials in the cause of religion, as of much 
more real value than the glory and luxuries of fife ; and even 
the various kinds of death that were invented against them were 
preferred to these, when they came into competition with reli- 
gion. We shall give an account of the end of one, leaving it for 
our readers to conjecture what must have been the character of 
the sufferings inflicted on the others. He was led into the middle 
of the aforesaid city, before those emperors already mentioned. 
He was then commanded to sacrifice, but as he refused, he was 
ordered to be stripped and lifted on high, and to be scourged with 
rods over his whole body, until he should be subdued in his reso- 
lution, and forced to do what he was commanded. But as he 
was unmoveable amid all these sufferings, his bones already ap- 
pearing bared of the flesh, they mixed vinegar with salt, and 
poured it upon the mangled parts of the body. But as he bore 
these tortures, a gridiron and fire was produced, and the rem- 
nants of his body, like pieces of meat for roasting and eating, were 
placed in the fire, not at once, so that he might not expire soon, 



324 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

but taken by little and little, whilst his torturers were not per- 
mitted to let him alone, unless after these sufferings he breathed 
his last before they had completed their task. He, however, per- 
severed in his purpose, and gave up his life victorious in the 
midst of his tortures. Such was the martyrdom of one of the 
imperial domestics, worthy in reality of his name, for he was 
called Peter. But we shall perceive in the course of our narra- 
tion, in which we shall study brevity, that the martyrdoms of the 
rest were in no respect inferior to this. We shall only state of 
Dorotheus, and Gorgonius, with many others of the imperial 
freedmen, that after various sufferings, they were destroyed by 
the halter, and bore away the prize of a heavenly victory. At 
this time also, Anthimus, then bishop of the church of Nicome- 
dia, was beheaded for his confession of Christ, and to him were 
added a multitude of believers that thronged around him. 

I know not how it happened, but there was a fire that broke 
out in the imperial palace at Nicomedia, in these days, which, by 
a false suspicion reported abroad, was attributed to our brethren 
as the authors ; in consequence of which, whole families of the 
pious here were slain in masses at the imperial command, some 
with the sword, some also with fire. Then it is said that men 
and women, with a certain divine and inexpressible alacrity, 
rushed into the fire. But the populace binding another number 
upon planks, threw them into the depths of the sea. But the im- 
perial domestics, also, who after death had been committed to 
the earth with proper burial, their legal masters thought neces- 
sary to have dug up again from their sepulchres, and likewise 
cast into the sea, lest any, reasoning like themselves, should wor- 
ship them in their graves, as if they were gods. And such, then, 
was the complexion of things in the commencement of the perse- 
cution at Nicomedia. 

But, ere long, as there were some in the region called Melitina, 
and others, again, in Syria, that attempted to usurp the govern- 
ment, it was commanded, by an imperial edict, that the heads of 
the churches every where should be thrust into prison and bonds. 
And the spectacle of affairs after these events exceeds all de- 
scription. Innumerable multitudes were imprisoned in every 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 325 

place, and the dungeons, formerly destined for murderers and 
the vilest criminals, were then filled with bishops, and presbyters, 
and deacons, readers and exorcists, so that there was no room 
left for those condemned for crime. But when the former edict 
was followed by another, in which it was ordered that the pri- 
soned should be permitted to have their liberty if they sacrificed, 
but persisting they should be punished with the most excruciating 
tortures, who could tell the number of those martyrs in every 
province, and particularly in Mauritania, Thebais, and Egypt, 
that suffered death for their religion ? From the last place, es- 
pecially, many went to other cities and provinces, and became 
illustrious for their martyrdom. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Egyptians that suffered in PhcBnice. 

We are already acquainted with those of them that shone 
conspicuous in Palestine, and know also those in Tyre and Phoe- 
nice ; and at the sight of whom, who would not himself be 
struck with astonishment at the numberless blows inflicted, and 
the perseverance of those truly admirable wrestlers for the true 
religion ? Who can behold, without amazement, all this : their 
conflicts, after scourging, with bloody beasts of prey, when they 
were cast as food to leopards and bears, wild boars and bulls, 
goaded with fire, and branded with glowing iron against them ? 
And in each of these, who can fail to admire the wonderful pa- 
tience of these noble martyrs ? At these scenes we have been 
present ourselves, when we also observed the divine power of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ himself present, and eflectually 
displayed in them ; when, for a long time, the devouring wild 
beasts would not dare either to touch or to approach the bodies 
of these pious men, but directed their violence against others that 



326 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

were any where stimulating them from without.* But they 
would not even touch the holy wrestlers standing naked and 
striking at them with their hands, as they were commanded, in 
order to irritate the beasts against them. Sometimes, indeed, 
they would also rush upon them, but, as if repulsed by some di- 
vine power, they again retreated. 

This continuing, also, for a long time, created no little wonder 
to the spectators ; so that now again on account of the failure in 
the first instance, they were obliged to let loose the beast a second 
and a third time upon one and the same martyr. One could not 
help being astonished at the intrepid perseverance of these holy 
men, and the firm and invincible mind of those, also, whose bo- 
dies were but young and tender. For you could have seen a 
youth of scarcely twenty years, standing unbound, with his arms 
extended, like a cross, but with an intrepid and fearless earnest- 
ness, intensely engaged in prayer to God, neither removing nor 
declining from the spot where he stood, whilst bears and leopards 
breathed rage and death, and almost touched his very flesh, and 
yet I know not how, by a divine and inscrutable power, they had 
their mouths in a manner bridled, and again retreated in haste. 
And such was he of whom we now speak. 

Again, you might have seen others, for they were five in all, 
cast before a wild bull, who indeed seized others, that approach- 
ed from without, with his horns, and tossed them in the air, leav- 
ing them to be taken up half dead, but only rushing upon the 
saints with rage and menaces ; for the beast was not able even to 
approach them, but beating the earth with his feet, and pushing 
with his horns hither and thither, and from the irritation excited 
by the brands of glowing iron, he breathed madness and death, 
yet was drawn back again by a divine interposition. So that as 

* Valesius and others understand this expression figuratively, as in the passage, 
" What have we to do with those without?" meaning the heathen. But the literal 
meaning seems to be natural and obvious, and refers to those who, standing with- 
out the arena, in the amphitheatre, were urging and stimulating the beasts. Our 
author uses the same expression below, evidently with the same intention as here, 
to designate particular persons. The figurative sense seems to be too general in an 
account like this. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 327 

he did not even injure them in the least, they let loose other 
beasts upon them. At length, however, after these various and 
terrible assaults, all of them were despatched with the sword, 
and instead of an interment and sepulchre, they were committed 
to the waves of the sea. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Those who suffered in Egypt. 



And such, too, was the severity of the struggle which was en- 
dured by the Egyptians, who wrestled gloriously for the faith at 
Tyre. But one cannot but admire those that suffered also in their 
native land, where thousands, both men, and women, and children, 
despising the present life for the sake of our Saviour's doctrine, 
submitted to death in various shapes. Some, after being tortured 
with scrapings and the rack, and the most dreadful scourgings, 
and other innumerable agonies, which one might shudder to hear, 
were finally committed to the flames ; some plunged and drown- 
ed in the sea, others voluntarily offering their own heads to the 
executioners, others dying in the midst of their torments, some 
wasted away by famine, and others again fixed to the cross. 
Some, indeed, were executed as malefactors usually were ; others 
more cruelly, were nailed with the head downwards, and kept 
alive until they were destroyed by starving on the cross itself. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Of those in Thebais. 



But it would exceed all power of detail to give an idea of the 
sufferings and tortures which the martyrs of Thebais endured. 
These, instead of hooks, had their bodies scraped with shells, and 
were mangled in this way until they died. Women tied by one 



328 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

foot, and then raised on high in the air by certain machines, with 
their naked bodies and wholly uncovered, presented this most 
foul, cruel, and inhuman spectacle to all beholders ; others again 
perished, bound to trees and branches. For, drawing the stoutest 
of the branches together by machines for this purpose, and bind- 
ing the limbs of the martyrs to each of these, they then let loose 
the boughs to resume their natural position, designing thus to 
produce a violent action, to tear asunder the limbs of those 
whom they thus treated. And all these things were doing not 
only for a few days or some time, but for a series of whole years. 
At one time, ten or more, at another, more than twenty, at another 
time not less than thirty, and even sixty, and again at another 
time, a hundred men with their wives and httle children were 
slain in one day, whilst they were condemned to various and 
varied punishments. We ourselves have observed, when on the 
spot, many crowded together in one day, some suffering decapi- 
tation, some the torments of flames ; so that the murderous 
weapon was completely blunted, and having lost its edge, broke 
to pieces ; and the executioners themselves, wearied v^th slaugh- 
ter, were obliged to relieve one another. Then, also, we were 
witnesses to the most admirable ardour of mind, and the truly 
divine energy and alacrity of those that believed in the Christ of 
God. For as soon as the sentence was pronounced against the 
first, others rushed forward from other parts to the tribunal be- 
fore the judge, confessing they were Christians, most indifferent 
to the dreadful and multiform tortures that awaited them, but 
declaring themselves fully and in the most undaunted manner on 
the religion which acknowledges only one Supreme God. They 
received, indeed, the final sentence of death with gladness and 
exultation, so far as even to sing and send up hymns of praise 
and thanksgiving, until they breathed their last. Admirable, in- 
deed, were these, but eminently wonderful were also those who, 
though they were distinguished for wealth and noble birth and 
great reputation, and excelled in philosophy and learning, still 
regarded all as but secondary to the true religion and faith in our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Such was Philoromus, who 
held no mean office in the imperial district of Alexandria, and 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 329 

who, according to his rank and Roman dignity, was attended by 
a military guard, when administering justice every day. Phileas, 
also, bishop of the churches of Thmuis, a man eminent for his 
conduct and the services rendered to his country, as well as in 
the different branches of philosophy. These, although urged by 
innumerable relatives and other friends, and though many emi- 
nent persons and the judge himself entreated them, that they 
should take compassion on themselves and have mercy upon their 
children and wives, were nevertheless not in the least induced 
by these things to prefer life, when it stood in competition with 
the command that regarded the confession or the denial of 
our Saviour. And thus, with a manly and philosophical mind, 
rather let me say with a mind devoted to God and his religion, 
persevering in opposition to all the threats and the insults of the 
judge, both of them were condenmed to lose their heads. 



CHAPTER X. 



The tmitings of Phileas, which give an account of the martyrs of 
Alexandria, 

But since we have mentioned Phileas, as highly estimable for 
his great proficiency also in foreign literature and science, we 
will let him bear witness for himself, whilst he may also show us 
w^ho he was, and also what martyrdoms happened at Alexandria, 
all which he can state more accurately, than ourselves, in the ex- 
tract we here present. 

From the epistle of Phileas to the inhabitants of Thmuis. " As 
all these signs, examples, and noble precepts are presented to us in 
the Holy Scriptures, those holy martyrs with us did not hesitate, 
whilst they sincerely directed their mental eye to that God who 
rules over all, and in their minds preferred death for their reli- 
gion, and firmly adhered to their vocation. They had well un- 
derstood that our Lord Jesus Christ became man for us, that he 
might remove all sin, and furnish us with the means of entering 

2T 



330 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

into eternal life. For he thought it not robbery to be equal with 
God, but humbled himself, taking upon him the form of a servant, 
and being found in the fashion of man, he humbled himself unto 
death, even the death of the cross." Hence, also, these Christ- 
bearing * martyrs, zealously strove to attain unto better gifts, and 
endured every kind of trial, every series of tortures not merely 
once, but once and again, the second time ; and though the 
guards assailed them with every kind of threat, not merely in 
words, but vied with one another in violent acts, they did not 
surrender their faith, because " perfect love casteth out fear." 
And what language would suffice to recount their virtues, and 
their fortitude under every trial ? For as every one had the 
liberty to abuse them, some beat them with clubs, some with 
rods, some with scourges, others again with thongs, others with 
ropes. And the sight of these torments was varied and multi- 
plied, exhibiting excessive malignity. For some had their hands 
tied behind them, and were suspended on the rack, f and every 
limb was stretched with machines. Then the torturers, accord- 
ing to their orders, applied the pincers to the whole body, not 
merely as in the case of murderers, to the sides, but also to the 
stomach and knees and cheeks. Some, indeed, w^ere suspended 
on high by one hand, from the portico, whose sufferings by rea- 
son of the distention of their joints and limbs, were more dreadful 
than any. Others were bound face to face to pillars, not resting 

* The original here is the expressive epithet %p((rTo<fiopo<, Christ-bearing, Christo- 
phori ; as they bore all for the sake of Christ, by a strong synecdoche, they were 
said to bear Christ himself, the voluntary object of their love ; and thus the indirect 
cause of these sufferings in which they rejoiced. We must indulge such anoma- 
lous compounds, as this, in our language, when a novel idea seems to require it. 
The composition itself is not more singular than the idea which it expresses. Va- 
lesius, though he does not follow the idea in his version, explains the word as 
meaning full of Christ, and refers to the epithet Theophorus given to Ignatius, 
Shorting has rendered it, therefore, full of Christ. But by such a version and ety- 
mology, the allusion in the context is entirely lost. The martyrs were called by a 
strong figure, Christophori, because they bore, and Ignatius was called Theophorus 
for the same reason. 

f The instrument of torture here mentioned, appears to have been the Roman 
eculeus. It was so constructed, that the person was suspended owi it, and his limbs 
stretched by screws. It was applied at first only to slaves. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 331 

upon their feet, but forced down by the weight of the body, 
whilst the pressure of their weight also increased the tension of 
their cords. And this they endured, not merely as long as the 
governor spoke to them, or as long merely as he had leisure to 
hear, but nearly the whole day. For when he passed on to 
others, he left some of his subordinate officers to attend to the 
former, to observe whether any of them seemed overcome by 
the torments, to surrender. But he gave orders to proceed with- 
out sparing, to bind with bonds, and afterwards, when they had 
breathed out their life, to drag them on the ground. For they 
said that there should not the least regard be paid to us, but that 
they should think and act with us as if we were nothing at all. 

Our enemies, therefore, had devised this second torture beside 
the scourging. But there were some, also, after the tortures, 
placed in the stocks, stretched by both feet to the fourth hole. 
So that they were of necessity obliged to keep in a lying posture 
on their back, not being able to have any command of their man- 
gled bodies, in consequence of the blows and scourges they had 
received. Others, again, being cast on the ground, lay prostrated 
by the accumulated tortures which they had endured, exhibiting 
a still more dreadful spectacle in that condition than when under 
the actual infliction of the torture, and bearing on their bodies 
the various and multiphed proofs of the ingenuity of their tor- 
turers. 

Whilst these things were doing, some indeed died under their 
torments, covering their enemies with shame by their persever- 
ance. Others, again, almost dead, were thrust into prison, and 
before many days ended their hfe through incessant pain. The 
rest, however, somewhat recovering by the application of reme- 
dies, by time and their long detention in prison, became more 
confident. Thus, then, when ordered to take their choice, either 
by touching the unholy sacrifice, to remain without further mo- 
lestation, and to obtain the execrable sentence of liberation from 
them, or else, without sacrificing, to expect the sentence of death, 
they without delay cheerfully embraced death. They well knew 
what had been anciently prescribed in the sacred Scriptures: 
" For he that ofTereth sacrifice to other gods," saith the Scrip 



332 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

tures, " shall be destroyed." And, again, " thou shalt have 
none other gods but me." These are the expressions of a martyr, 
who was at once a sound philosopher and one devoted to God. 
These he addressed before the final sentence, whilst yet in prison, 
to the brethren of his church, at the same time representing his 
own condition, and exhorting them to adhere firmly, even after 
his death, which was close at hand, to the Christian religion. 
But why should we say much, and add one new species of strug- 
gle after another, as they were endured by these pious martyrs 
throughout the world ; especially when they were no longer as- 
sailed in a common way, but regularly invaded as in war ? 



CHAPTER XL 

The events in Phrygia. 



Indeed the armed soldiery surrounded a certain Christian 
tow^n in Phrygia, together with the garrison, and hurling fire 
into it, burnt them, together with women and children, calling 
upon Christ the God of all. And this, because all the inhabitants 
of this town, even the very governor and magistrate, with all 
the men of rank, and the whole people, confessed themselves 
Christians, and would not obey, in any degree, those that com- 
manded them to offer sacrifices. 

Another one, also, of Roman dignity, Adanetus by name, of a 
noble Italian family, a man that had been advanced through 
every grade of dignity by the emperors, and had reputably filled 
the offices of general administrator, called by them the master 
of the revenue, and prime minister. And yet with all this he 
was pre-eminent, also, for his pious acts, and his profession of 
Christ, and was nobly crowned with martyrdom ; nobly enduring 
the conflict in the cause of piety whilst he was yet clad with the 
office of prime minister. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 333 



CHAPTER XII. 

Of many others, both men and women, ivho suffered in different 

ways. 

Why should I now mention the names of others, or number the 
multitude of men, or picture the various torments of the admir- 
able martyrs of Christ ; some of whom were slain with the axe, 
as in Arabia ; some had their limbs fractured, as in Cappadocia ; 
and some were suspended by the feet, and a little raised from the 
ground, with their heads downward, were suffocated with the 
ascending smoke of a gentle fire kindled below, as was done to 
those in Mesopotamia ; some were mutilated by having their 
noses, ears, and hands cut off, and the rest of their limbs, and 
parts of their body cut to pieces, as was the case at Alexandria ? 
Why should we revive the recollection of those at Antioch, who 
were roasted on grates of fire, not to kill immediately, but torture 
them with a lingering punishment ? Others, again, rather resolved 
to thrust their arm into the fire, than touch the unholy sacrifice ; 
some shrinking from the trial, sooner than be taken and fall into 
the hands of their enemies, cast themselves headlong from the 
lofty houses, considering death an advantage compared with the 
malignity of these impious persecutors. A certain holy and ad- 
mirable female, admirable for her virtue, and illustrious above all 
at Antioch for her wealth, family, and reputation, had educated 
her two daughters, who were now in the bloom of life, noted for 
their beauty, in the principles of piety. As they had excited 
great envy among many, every measure was tried to trace them 
in their concealment ; but when it was discovered that they were 
abroad, they were, with a deep-laid scheme, called to Antioch. 
They were now caught in the toils of the soldiery. The mother, 
therefore, being at a loss for herself and daughters, knowing what 
dreadful outrages they would suffer from the men, represented 
their situation to them, and, above all, the threatened violation 
of their chastity, an evil more to be dreaded than any other, to 
which neither she nor they should even listen for a moment. At 



334 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the same time declaring, that to surrender their souls to the sla- 
very of daemons was worse than death and destruction. From all 
these, she suggested there was only one way to be delivered, to 
betake themselves to the aid of Christ. After this, all agreeing 
to the same thing, and having requested the guards a little time 
to retire on the way, they decently adjusted their garments, and 
cast themselves into the flowing river. These, then, destroyed 
themselves. 

Another pair of virgins at this same Antioch, distinguished for 
piety, and truly sisters in all respects, illustrious in family, wealth, 
youth, and beauty, but no less so for their serious minds, their 
pious deportment, and their admirable zeal, as if the earth could 
not bear such excellence, were ordered by the worshippers of 
daemons to be thrown into the sea. Such were the facts that 
occurred at Antioch. Others at Pontus, endured torments that 
are too horrible to relate. Some had their fingers pierced with 
sharp reeds thrust under their nails. Others, having masses of 
melted lead, bubbling and boihng with heat, poured down their 
backs, and roasted, especially in the most sensitive* parts of the 
body. Others, also, endured insufferable torments on their bowels 
'm and other parts, such as decency forbids to describe, which those 

(| generous and equitable judges, with a view to display their own 

cruelty, devised as some pre-eminence in wisdom, worthy their 
ambition. Thus constantly inventing new tortures, they vied 
with one another, as if there were prizes proposed in the contest, 
who should invent the greatest cruelties. But as to the last of these 
calamities, when the judges now had despaired of inventing any 
thing more effectual, and were weary with slaughter, and had 
surfeited themselves with shedding of blood, they then applied 
themselves to what they considered kindness and humanity, so 
that they seemed disposed to exercise no further cruelty against 
us. For said they, the cities should not be polluted with blood 
any more, and the government of the sovereigns which was so 
kind and merciful toward all, should not be defamed for exces- 

* Rufimus translates, or rather paraphrases, with much elegance, Usque ad loca 
pudenda quibus naturalis egestio procurari solet. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 835 

sive cruelty : it was more proper that the benefits afforded by 
their humane and imperial majesties, should be extended to all, 
and that we should no longer be punished with death. For we 
were liberated from this punishment by the great clemency of 
the emperors. After this, therefore, they w^ere ordered only to 
tear out our eyes, to deprive us of one of our legs. Such was their 
kindness, and such the lightest kind of punishment against us ; so 
that in consequence of this humanity of theirs it was impossible 
to tell the great and incalculable number of those that had their 
right eye dug out with the sword first, and after this seared with 
a red hot iron ; those too, whose left foot was maimed with a 
searing iron ; after these, those who in dififerent provinces were 
condemned to the copper mines, not so much for the service as 
for the contumely and misery they should endure. Many, also, 
endured conflicts of other kinds, which it would be impossible to 
detail ; for their noble fortitude surpasses all power of descrip- 
tion. In this the magnanimous confessors of Christ that shone 
conspicuous throughout the whole world, every where struck 
the beholders with astonishment, and presented the obvious 
proofs of our Saviour's divine interposition in their own persons. 
And hence, to mention each by name, would be at least a long 
and tedious work, not to say impossible. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Those prelates that evinced the reality of the religion they pro- 
claimed with their blood. 

Of those prelates of the church, however, who suffered mar- 
tyrdom in the most celebrated cities, the first of which we shall 
mention, recorded by the pious as a witness of the kingdom of 
Christ, is Anthimus, bishop of Nicomedia, who was beheaded. 
Of the martyrs at Antioch, we also name Lucian, that presbyter 
of this church, who during all his life was pre-eminent for his ex- 
cellent character and piety. He had before, at Nicomedia, and 
in the presence of the emperor, proclaimed the heavenly king- 



336 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

dom of Christ, in the defence that he dehvered, and afterwards 
bore testimony to its truth in his actions. Among the martyrs at 
Phoenice, the most noted of all, were those pious and devoted 
pastors of the spiritual flocks of Christ, Tyrannio, bishop of the 
church of Tyre, Zenobius of Sidon, and Silvanus bishop of Emisa. 
The last of these was cast as food to wild beasts at Emisa, and 
thus ranked in the number of martyrs, but each of the former 
glorified the doctrine of God, by suffering with patience until 
death. The one, the bishop, was committed to the depths of the 
sea ; but Zenobius, the other, a most excellent physician, died 
with great fortitude under the tortures appHed to his sides. But 
among the martyrs at Palestine, Silvanus, bishop of the churches 
about Gaza, was beheaded with thirty-nine others at the copper 
mines of Phoeno. Also, those of Egypt there, Peleus and Nilus, 
who were bishops, suffered death by the flames. Among these 
must be mentioned the presbyter Pamphilus, a most admirable 
man of our times, and the glory of the church at Cesarea, 
whose illustrious deeds we have set forth in its proper place. 
But of those that were prominent as martyrs at Alexandria, all 
Egypt and Thebais, the first whom we shall mention is Peter, 
bishop of Alexandria, a man wonderful as a teacher of the 
Christian faith, and the presbyters with him, Faustus, and Dius, 
and Ammonius, perfect witnesses* of Christ. Phileas, Pochumius, 
Hesychius and Theodorus, bishops of churches in Egypt, with 
many others, are also mentioned as distinguished martyrs, by the 

* We have translated the word martyrs here, or rather presented its original 
meaning, as the evident intention of our author. The M^ord in the Greek, from 
signifying a witness, was appUed to those by way of eminence, who by their death 
gave the most striking evidence of their faith that mortals can give. Such, there- 
fore, were called witnesses emphatically, both in reference to the truth to which 
they witnessed, and the manner in which they thus gave their testimony. In this 
sense our Lord himself is called the " true and faithful witness," (martyr.) Our 
author here, by attaching the attribute perfect, evidently intimates that he means 
to lay some stress on the meaning of the word martyrs, as witnesses made perfect 
by their death. The death of these witnesses is, indeed, according to the ecclesi- 
astical phraseology implied in the word perfect. It was by death that they were 
constituted perfect confessors ; before that they were regarded only as confessors. 
This may suffice to explain why we here differ from Valesius and others. See 
note, Book VI. ch. x. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 337 

churches in those places and regions. To give a minute descrip- 
tion of the conflict which they endured in the cause of piety, 
throughout the whole world, and to give a full account of the cir- 
cumstances respecting each, could not be expected in the pre- 
sent woik. This would rather belong to those who were eye- 
witnesses of the facts. Those, indeed, at which I myself was 
present, I shall publish for the benefit of posterity in another 
work. 

In the present work, however, I shall, to the abovemention- 
ed facts, add the revocation issued by our persecutors, as also 
those events that occurred at the beginning of the persecution, 
believing that they will be read not without profit. To tell the 
state of the Roman empire before the war was waged against us, 
how long the emperors continued friendly and peaceable towards 
us, and how great was the abundance and prosperity of the em- 
pire, what description would suffice ? Then, indeed, those who 
held the supreme command, who had been at the head of go- 
vernment ten and twenty years, passed their time in festivities 
and shows, and joyous feasts and entertainments in peace and 
tranquillity. And in this state of uninterrupted and increasing 
prosperity and power, they suddenly changed our peaceful condi- 
tion, and excited against us a most unjust and nefarious war. For 
scarcely had the second year of this war been passed, when a 
revolution taking place in the whole government, it was com- 
pletely overturned. A disease of a most obstinate nature at- 
tacked the chief of the abovementioned emperors, by which he 
was reduced to a state of insanity, together with him that was 
honoured with the second rank, and thus betook himself to a pri- 
vate life. But these things had been scarcely thus done when 
the whole empire was divided, a circumstance which, in the an- 
nals of history, never happened before, any where. But, it was 
not long before the emperor Constantius, who was all his life most 
kindly and favourably disposed towards his subjects, and also 
most favourably disposed toward the divine word, departed this 
life, leaving his son Constantino a true copy of himself, as empe- 
ror and Augustus, his successor. He was the first of these em- 

2U 



338 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

perors that was ranked among the gods * by them, having every 
honour conferred upon him, after death, that was due to an em- 
peror. He was the kindest and mildest of the emperors, and in- 
deed the only one of them in our times, that passed his life con- 
sistently with the imperial dignity, and who likewise in all other 
respects exhibited the greatest condescension and benevolence to 
all, and had no share in the hostility raised against us, but even 
preserved and protected those pious persons under him free from 
harm and calumny. Neither did he demolish the churches, nor 
devise any other mischief against us, and at length enjoyed a 
most happy and blessed death, being the only one who, at his 
death, did peaceably and gloriously leave the government to bis 
own son, as his successor ; a prince who in all respects was en- 
dowed with the greatest moderation and piety. His son Con- 
stantine, therefore, in the very commencement, being proclaimed 
{Supreme emperor and Augustus by the soldiers, and much longer 
before this, by the universal sovereign God, resolved to tread in 
the footsteps of his father, with respect to our faith. And such, 
indeed, was he. But Licinius after this was appointed emperor 
and Augustus, by a common vote of the emperors. Maximinus 
was greatly offended at this, since he had yet received only the 
title of Cesar from all. He, therefore, being particularly of a ty- 
rannical temper, arrogating to himself the dignity, was created 
Augustus by himself In the mean time, being detected in a con- 
spiracy against the hfe of Constantino, the same (Maximian) that 
we have mentioned as having resumed the imperial dignity after 
his resignation was carried off by a most disgraceful death. And 

* This is to be understood of the four emperors then reigning; Diocletian, Maxi- 
mian, Constantius, and Galerius. It was the custom of the Roman senate to deify the 
emperors at their death. Our author, without intending to commend the practice, 
simply states the fact as a proof of the popularity of Constantius ; as the honour was 
not indiscriminately conferred. Othenvise, in regard to this deification, our author, 
in the midst of his commendations, almost appears a little ironical, upon the practice, 
how much soever he honoured the memory of Constantius. We are here forcibly 
reminded of the humorous strife between j^sculapius and Hercules, in Lucian's 
dialogues, where Jupiter at last decides the dispute about priority, by assigning it to 
^sculapius, because he died first. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 339 

he was the first of these emperors whose statues and public 
monuments were demolished as commemorative of an impious 
and execrable man. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

The morals of the persecutors. 



Maxentius, the son of Maximian, who had established his 
government at Rome, in the commencement, pretended indeed, 
by a species of accommodation and flattery towards the Ro- 
mans, that he was of our faith. He, therefore, commanded his 
subjects to desist from persecuting the Christians, pretending to 
piety with a view to appear much more mild and merciful than 
the former rulers. But he by no means proved to be in his ac- 
tions such as he was expected. He sunk into every kind of wick- 
edness, leaving no impurity or licentiousness untouched ; com- 
mitting every species of adultery and fornication, separating 
wives from their lawful husbands, and after abusing these, send- 
ing them thus most shamefully violated back again to their hus- 
bands. And these things he perpetrated not upon mean and 
obscure individuals, but insulting more particidarly the most pro- 
minent of those that were most distinguished in the senate. Whilst 
he was thus dreaded by all, both people and magistrates, high 
and law were galled with a most grievous oppression ; and 
though they bore this severe tyranny quietly, and without rebel- 
hon, it produced no relief from his murderous cruelty. On a cer- 
tain very slight occasion, therefore, he gave up the people to be 
slaughtered by the prastorian guards, and thus multitudes of the 
Roman people were slain in the very heart of the city, not with 
the arrows and spears of Scythians or barbarians, but of their 
own fellow-citizens. It would be impossible to tell what slaugh- 
ter was made of the senators merely for the sake of their wealth, 
thousands being destroyed on a variety of pretexts and fictitious 
crimes. But when these evils had reached their greatest height, 
the tyrant was induced to resort to the mummery of magic. At 



340 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

one time he would cut open pregnant females, at another examin- 
ing the bowels of new born babes ; sometimes also slaughtering 
lions and performing any kind of execrable acts, to invoke the 
daemons, and to avert the impending war. For all his hope now 
was that victory would be secured to him by these means. It is 
impossible then to say, in what different ways this cruel tyrant 
oppressed his subjects, so that they were already reduced to 
such extreme want and scarcity, such as they say has never 
happened at Rome, or elsewhere in our time. But Maximinus, 
who was sovereign of the east, as he had secretly formed an alli- 
ance with Maxentius, his true brother in wickedness at Rome, 
designed to conceal his designs as long as possible. But being 
at length detected, he suffered the deserved punishment. It was 
wonderful how nearly allied, and similar, rather how vastly be- 
yond the tyranny of the Roman, were the cruelties and crimes of 
this tyrant. The first of impostors and jugglers, were honoured 
by him with the highest rank. He became so extremely timo- 
rous and superstitious, and valued the delusion and supposed in- 
fluence of daemons above all, so that he was hardly able to move 
his finger, one might say, or undertake any thing without sooth- 
sayers and oracles. Hence, also, he assailed us with a more vio- 
lent and incessant persecution than those before him. He ordered 
temples to be erected in every city, and those that had been de- 
molished by time, he commanded in his zeal to be renewed. 
Priests of the idols he established in every place and city ; and 
over these a high priest in every province, some one of those 
who had been particularly distinguished for his skill in the ma- 
nagement of political affairs, adding a military guard. He 
granted to all his jugglers the same reverence as if they were 
the most pious and acceptable to the gods, freely bestowing on 
them governments, and the greatest privileges. 

And from this time forth he began to vex, not merely a single 
city or region, but harassed all the provinces under him, by ex- 
actions of silver and gold and money, by the most oppressive 
seizures and confiscations of property, in different ways and on 
various pretexts. Despoihng the wealthy of the substance in- 
herited from their fathers, he bestowed vast wealth, and heaps 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 341 

of money upon the flatterers around him. And he had now ad- 
vanced to such a pitch of rashness, and was so addicted to intox- 
ication, that, in his drunken frolics he was frequently deranged 
and deprived of his reason, like a madman ; so that what he com- 
manded when he was' intoxicated, he afterwards regretted when 
he became sober. But determined to leave no one his superior 
in surfeiting and gluttony, he presented himself a fit master of 
iniquity to the rulers and subjects around him. Initiating the 
soldiers, by luxury and intemperance, into every species of dissi- 
pation and revelling, encouraging the governors and generals, by 
rapacity and avarice, to proceed with their oppressions against 
their subjects, with almost the power of associate tyrants. Why 
should I mention the degrading and foul lust of the man ? Or 
why mention his innumerable adulteries 1 There was not a city 
that he passed through in which he did not commit violence 
upon females. And in these he succeeded against all but the 
Christians. For they, despising death, valued his power but 
little. 

The men bore fire, sword, and crucifixions, savage beasts, and 
the depths of the sea, the maiming of Hmbs, and searing with red 
hot iron, pricking and digging out the eyes, and the mutilations 
of the whole body. Also hunger, and mines, and prisons ; and 
after all, they chose these suflferings for the sake of religion, ra- 
ther than transfer that veneration and worship to idols which is 
due to God only. The females, also, no less than the men, were 
strengthened by the doctrine of the divine word ; so that some 
endured the same trials as the men, and bore away .the same 
prizes of excellence. Some, when forced away, yielded up their 
lives rather than submit to the violation of their bodies. 

The tyrant having fully gratified his lust on others at Alexan- 
dria, his unbridled passion was defeated by the heroic firmness 
of one female only, who was one of the most distinguished and 
illustrious at Alexandria, and she was a Christian. She was in 
other respects distinguished both for her wealth, and family, and 
condition, but esteemed all inferior to modesty. Having fre- 
quently made attempts to bring her over to his purposes, though 
she was prepared to die, he could not destroy her, as his passion 



342 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

was stronger than his anger ; but, punishing her with exile, he 
took away all her wealth. Many others, also, unable to bear 
even the threats of violation from the rulers of the heathen, sub- 
mitted to every kind of torture, the rack and deadly punishment. 
Admirable, indeed, were all these ; but far above all most admir- 
able, was that lady who was one of the most noble and modest 
of those whom Maxentius, in all respects like Maximinus, at- 
tempted to violate. For when she understood that the minions 
of the tyrant in such matters, had burst into the house (for she 
was also a Christian), and that her husband, who was the prefect 
of Rome, had suffered them to carry her off, she requested but a 
little time, as if now for the purpose of adorning her body : she 
then entered her chamber, and when alone thrust a sword into 
her breast. Thus, dying immediately, she indeed left her body 
to the conductors ; but in her deeds, more effectually than any 
language, proclaims, to all who are now and will be hereafter, 
that virtue, which prevails among Christians, is the only invinci- 
ble and imperishable possession. Such, then, was the flood of 
iniquity which rushed on at one and the same time, and which was 
wrought by the two tyrants that swayed the east and the west. 
And who is there that examines the cause of these evils, that 
would be in doubt whether he should pronounce the persecution 
raised against us, proceeding from these as their cause ? Espe- 
cially as the confusion of the empire, which prevailed to a great 
extent, did not cease before the Christians received full liberty of 
conscience to profess their religion ? 



CHAPTER XV. 

The events that happened to the heathen. 

During the whole ten years of the persecution, there was no 
cessation of plots and civil wars among the persecutors them- 
selves. For the sea indeed was impassable to the mariner, nor 
could any set sail from any part, without being exposed to every 
kind of torment, either scourged, or racked in their limbs, or la- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 343 

cerated and galled with torturing instruments in their sides, to as- 
certain whether they had come from the enemy of the opposite 
party, and at last were subjected either to the punishment of the 
cross or of fire. Besides these things, one saw every where 
shields and coats of mail preparing, darts and javelins and other 
implements of war ; and in every place, also, were collections of 
galleys and naval armour. Neither was there any thing expect- 
ed any where but the attacks of enemies from day to day. Be- 
sides this, famine and pestilence were superadded, of which we 
shall relate what is most important in its proper place. 



CHAPTER XVL 

The change of affairs for the better. 

Such was the state of things throughout the whole period of 
the persecution. This, by the goodness of God, had enturely 
ceased in the tenth year, although it had already begun to relax 
after the eighth. For when the kindness of God's providence 
regarded us again with a gracious and merciful eye, then indeed 
our rulers, and those very persons who were formerly the princi- 
pal agents of the persecutions, most remarkably changed in their 
sentiments, began to recant, and attempted to extinguish the blaze 
of persecution kindled against us by mild proclamations and or- 
dinances. But this was not done by any mere human agency, 
nor was it, as might perhaps be supposed, by the compassion or 
the humanity of our rulers. For, so far from this, they were 
daily devising more and severer measures against us from the 
beginning of the persecution until then, constantly inventing new 
tortures from time to time by an increasing variety of machinery 
and instruments for this purpose. But the evident superinten- 
dence of divine Providence, on the one hand, being reconciled 
to his people, and on the other assailing the author of these mise- 
ries, exhibited his anger against him as the ringleader in the hor- 
rors of the whole persecution. Though it had been necessary 
that these things should occur by some divine judgment, yet it is 



344 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

declared, " Wo to him through whom the offence cometh." 
Hence he was visited by a judgment sent from God, which be- 
ginning in his flesh proceeded to his very soul. For a sudden 
tumor appeared about the middle of the body, then a spongy 
fistula in these parts,* which continued to extend and penetrate 
with its ulcerations to the inmost parts of the bowels. Hence 
sprung an immense multitude of worms, hence also an insuffera- 
ble death-like eflJluvia exhaled, as his whole body before his dis- 
ease, by reason of his gluttony, had been changed into an exces- 
sive mass of fat, which then becoming putrid, exhibited a dread- 
ful and intolerable spectacle to those that drew near. Some, 
indeed, of the physicians, totally unable to endure the excessively 
oflfensive smell, were slain ; others again, as the swelhng had pe- 
netrated every where, and they unable to give any relief, des- 
paired of safety, and were put to death without mercy. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

The revocation of the emperors. 



Thus struggling with so many miseries, he had some com- 
punctions for the crimes that he had committed against the 
pious. Turning, therefore, his reflections upon himself, first of all 
he confessed his sin to the supreme God, then summoning his 
oflicers, he immediately orders that, without delay, they should 
stop the persecution against the Christians, and by an imperial 
ordinance and decree, commanded that they should hasten to re- 
build the churches, that they might perform their accustomeJ 
devotions, and offer up prayers for the emperor's safety. This 
decree was immediately followed by its effects ; the imperial de- 
crees were published in the cities, embracing the following revo- 
cation with regard to us. 

* Valesius renders, Repente enim circa media occultiomm corporis partium loca 
abscessus ei nascitur : ulcus deinde in imo fistulosum. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 345 

The Emperor Cesar Galerius Valerius Maximianus, Invictus, 
Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, Germanicus Maximus, iEgj^tiacus 
Maximus, Thebaicus Maximus, Sarmaticus Maximus, the fifth 
time Persicus Maximus, second time Carpicus Maximus, sixth 
time Armeniacus Maximus, Medicus Maximus, Adiabenicus 
Maximus, Tribune of the People XX. Emperor XIX. Consul VIII. 
Father of his country, Proconsul : and the Emperor Cesar Flavins, 
Valerius Constantinus, Pius, Felix, Invictus, Augustus, Pontifex 
Maximus, Tribune of the People, and Emperor V. Consul, Father 
of his country. Proconsul : also, the Emperor Cesar Valerius 
Licinianus, Pius, Felix, Invictus, Augustus ; Pontifex, Maximus, 
Tribune of the People IV. Emperor III. Consul, Pater Patriae, 
Proconsul ; to their subjects in the provinces, send greeting : 

Among* other matters which we have devised for the benefit 
and common advantage of our people, w^e have first determined 
to restore all things according to the ancient laws and the pub- 
lic institutions,! of the Romans. And to make provision for this, 
that also the Christians, v/ho have left the rehgion of their fathers, 
should return again to a good purpose and resolution. For by 
some means,J such arrogance had overtaken and such stupidity 
had beset them, that they would not follow the principles an- 

* This edict, as Eusebius tells us below, he translated from the Latin, and had 
he not mentioned it, it could be inferred from the style and phraseology ; as the 
Latin idiom appears more than once. The very beginning is calculated to make 
this impression. 

•f The word £?ri,T>)^nv, here occurring, is very ambiguous. We suspected at first, 
our author had before him ex sententia Romani populi, or perhaps plebiscitum, of 
which ^n,«o(r.» £5r<;T>;/:<vji,, might scrvc as a literal translation, though not very intelli- 
gible. After writing this conjecture, however, we examined the Latin edict pre- 
served by Lanctantius, and find the original was discipliiiam. 

+ We suspect the Latin here was quadam ratione, which our author has trans- 
lated T»v« xoyta-fi-a, by u Certain mode of reasoning: Valesius seems to have over- 
looked the Latin idiom as well as the Greek, and rendered guodam consensu. But 
Eusebius appears to have mistaken quadam ratione, and translated into the Greek 
accordingly. What confirms our conjecture is, that the edict does not ascribe any 
thing like reason to the Christians, but imputes their conduct to some stupid in- 
fatuation. 

This note was written before we examined the Latin copy of the edict in Lane* 
tantiue. 

2X 



346 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

ciently prescribed to them, which in all probability their ancestors 
had established, but they began to make and follow laws, each 
one according to his own purpose and his own will, and thus dif- 
ferent multitudes assembled with different opinions and of differ- 
ent sects. Hence, when a decree of this kind was issued by us, 
that they should return again to the established usages of their 
forefathers, vast numbers were subjected to danger, many, when 
threatened, endured various kinds of death. But though we saw 
the great mass still persevering in their folly, and that they 
neither gave the honour that was due to the immortal gods, nor 
heeded that of the Christians, still having a regard to our cle- 
mency and our invariable practice, according to which we are 
wont to grant pardon to all, we most cheerfully have resolved 
to extend our indulgence in this matter also: that there may 
be Christians again, and that they may restore their houses in 
which they were accustomed to assemble, so that nothing be 
done by them contrary to their profession. In another epistle 
we shall point out to the judges, what they will be required to 
observe ; whence, according to this condescension of ours, they 
are obligated to implore their God for our safety, as well as that 
of the people and their own. That in every place the public 
welfare may be preserved, and they may live unmolested in their 
respective homes and fire-hearths. 

Such was the purport of this ordinance, which, according to 
our ability, we have translated from the Latin into the Greek.* 
But the affairs after this we are now farther to consider, 

* Since writing the above notes, we have compared the original Latin edict, 
which is still preserved in Lanctantius, " de moriibus perseciitortimr Our con- 
jectures, as it regards style and phraseology, we have found considerably confirmed 
by this comparison. The Latinity, however, of the edict itself, savours of the de- 
generacy of the day. It is surprising, that neither Valesius nor his translator, 
Shorting, has noticed the' edict as preserved by Lanctantius. And yet the former 
has struck upon the signification of £^<sT>);Uii, occurring twice in this edict. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 347 

[In some copies, this is appended to the eighth Book,*"] 

But the author of this edict after this acknowledgment, soon 
after was liberated from his pains, and terminated his Hfe. It is 
agreed he was the original cause of the miseries of the persecu- 
tion, as he had long before the movements of the other emperors, 
attempted to seduce the Christian soldiers of his own house from 
their faith, degrading some from their mihtary rank, and insulting 
others in the most abusive manner, even punishing some with death, 
and at last exciting his associate emperors to a general persecution 
against all. Nor have I thought proper, that the death of these 
emperors should be passed over in silence. As there were four, 
therefore, that held the sovereignty divided among them, those 
that were advanced in years and honours, after nearly two years 
from the persecution, abdicated the government, as we have 
already shown ; and thus passing their days in common and re- 
tired life, ended their life in the following manner. — The one, 
indeed, who preceded the others in honour and age, was at 
length overpowered by a long and distressing disease, but the 
next to him in dignity destroyed himself by strangling, suffer- 
ing thus according to certain demoniacal prognostics, on ac- 
count of the innumerable crimes that he had committed. But 
of the two after these, the last, whom we have mentioned as the 
leader of the whole persecution, suffered such things as we have 
already stated. But he that surpassed them all in Idndness and 
condescension, the emperor Constantius, who had conducted his 
government the whole time consistently with the imperial dig- 
nity, and who exhibited himself a most gracious and benevolent 
prince in other respects, also, had no hand in raising the perse- 
cution against us, but even protected and patronised those pious 
persons that were imder him. He neither demolished the build- 
ings of the churches, nor devised any thing in opposition to us ; 

* The two sections that here follow, are regarded as supplementary to the work. 
The first being an Appendix to the eighth Book, and the following one a preUminary 
to the Book of Martyrs. The statements at the head of each are from some of 
the copyists, as they are fomid in the most approved manuscripts. 



348 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and finally enjoyed a death really happy and blessed, being the 
only one of the four that in the midst of a tranquil and glorious 
reign, at his death, transmitted the government to his own son 
as his successor, a prince most eminent in all respects for his 
wisdom and piety. He, at the very beginning, was proclaimed 
supreme emperor and Augustus, by the armies, and exhibited 
himself a generous rival of his father's piety, with regard to us. 
Such then, was the issue of the life of the four emperors, at dif- 
ferent times. Of these the only one that yet left the abovemen- 
tined confession, was he whom we mentioned above, together 
with those whom he had afterwards associated with him in the 
government, which confession also, he sent abroad in his procla- 
mation to all. 



The following we also found appended to the eighth Book. 

Tms was the eighth year of the reign of Diocletian, in the 
month of Xanthicus, which one would call April according to the 
Romans, about the time when the paschal festival of our Sa- 
viour took place, when Flavianus was governor of Palestine. 
Suddenly edicts were published every where to raze the churches 
to the ground, and to destroy the sacred Scriptures in the flames, 
to strip those that were in honour of their dignities, and to de- 
prive the freedmen of their liberty if any persisted in the Chris- 
tian profession. Such was the first violence of this edict against 
us ; but it was not long before other mandates were issued, in 
which it was ordered that the prelates of the churches should 
first be cast into prison everywhere, and then compelled by every 
artifice to offer the sacrifice. 



THE BOOK OF MARTYRS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Procopius, Alpheus, and Zaccheus. 

The first, therefore, of the martyrs of Palestine, was Procopius, 
who, before he was tried by imprisonment, was immediately at 
the beginning arraigned before the tribunal of the governor. 
When commanded to sacrifice to those called gods, he declared 
that he knew but one, to whom it was proper to sacrifice, as He 
himself had commanded ; but when he was ordered to make 
libations to the four emperors, he uttered a sentence which did 
not please them, and was immediately beheaded. The sentence 
was from the poet : " A plurality of sovereigns is not good, let 
there be but one prince and one sovereign Lord."* This hap- 
pened on the eighth of the month Desius, or as one would say 
with the Romans, the seventh before th^ Idesf of June, the fourth 
day of the week. This was the first signal that was given at 
Cesarea in Palestine. After him many bishops in the same city, 
of the provincial churches, cheerfully struggled with dreadful tor- 
tures, and exhibited noble specimens of mighty conflicts. Some 
indeed, from excessive dread, broken down and overpowered by 
their terrors, sunk and gave way immediately at the first onset, 
but each of the rest experienced various kinds of torture. Some 
were scourged w^ith innumerable strokes of the lash, others rack- 
ed in their hmbs and galled in their sides with torturing instru- 
ments, some with intolerable fetters, by which the joints of their 

*The words of Ulysses, in the Liad, book ii. line 208. Ouk »yaiov jroxuxotpav.u. 
Sentences from Homer were among the proverbs of the day. The same passage 
was on a certain occasion repeated by Domitian. See his Life by Suetonius, ch. 13. 

I The Romans had three divisions of the month. Calends, Nones, and Ides, and 
in marking the days they counted backwards. For the days given here, see any ta- 
bular view of the Roman calendar. 

349 



350 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

hands were dislocated. Nevertheless they bore the event, as 
regulated by the secret determinations of Gjod. One was seized 
by the hands, and led to the altar by others who were thrusting the 
polluted and unhallowed victim into his right hand, and then suf- 
fered to go again as if he had sacrificed. Another, though he had 
not even touched, when others said that he had sacrificed, went 
away in silence. Another was taken up half dead, and cast out 
as already dead, and was released from his bonds, and ranked 
among the sacrificers. Another crying out, and asserting that he 
did not assent to these things, was struck on the mouth ; and thus 
silenced by the many blows of those that were suborned for this 
purpose, was thrust away by violence, although he had never 
sacrificed. So much was it valued by them, for one upon the 
whole only to appear to have performed their desire. Of these 
therefore, so many in number, only Alpheus* and Zaccheus were 
honoured with the crown of the holy martyrs, who after scourg- 
ing and scraping with iron hooks, and severe bonds, and the tor- 
tures consequent on these, and other different tortures on the 
rack, having their feet stretched a night and day, to the fourth 
hole of the stocks, were at length beheaded on the seventeenth 
day of the month Dius,«the same that is called the fifteenth of 
the Calends of December. Thus for confessing the only God 
and Jesus Christ the only king, they suffered martyrdom with 
the former martyr, just as if they had uttered some dreadful 
blasphemy. 



CHAPTER IL 

The martyr Romanus. 



Worthy of record, also, are the circumstances respecting Ro- 
manus, which occurred on the same day at Antioch. He was a 

* The names of some of these martyrs are to be found in some of the old calen- 
dars. Thus Alpheus is found on the 17th of November, corresponding to the date 
here given. Others may be found in the same way. The names of some have in 
the lapse of time given way to others. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 351 

native of Palestine, a deacon and exorcist, of the church at Ce- 
sarea, and was present at the demohtion of the churches there ; 
and as he saw many men with women and children approaching 
the idols in masses, and sacrificing, considering the sight intole- 
rable, and stimulated by a zeal for religion, he cried out with a 
loud voice, and reproved them. But he was immediately seized 
for his boldness, and proved, if any, to be a most noble witness of 
the truth. When the judge had informed him that he was to die 
by the flames, with a cheerful countenance and a most ardent 
mind, he received the sentence, and was led away. He was then 
tied to the stake, and when the wood was heaped up around him, 
and they were about kindling the pile, only awaiting the word from 
the expected emperor, he exclaimed, " where then is the fire ?" 
Saying this, he was summoned again before the emperor, to be sub- 
jected to new tortures, and therefore had his tongue cut out, which 
he bore with the greatest fortitude, as he proved in his actions to 
all, showing also that the power of God is always present to the 
aid of those who are obliged to bear any hardship for the sake 
of religion, to lighten their labours, and to strengthen their ar- 
dour. When, therefore, he learned the novel mode of punishment, 
the heroic man by no means alarmed, readily thrust out his 
tongue and offered it with the greatest alacrity to those who cut it 
out. After this he was cast into bonds, and having suffered there 
a very long time, at length when the twentieth anniversary of the 
emperor was at hand, according to an established usage of 
granting liberty every where to those that were kept in prison, he 
alone had his feet stretched to the fifth hole in the stocks, lying 
upon the very wood with a halter round his neck, was adorned 
with martyrdom, according to his earnest desire. This one, 
though he suffered beyond his country, yet as a native of Pales- 
tine deserved to be ranked among the martyrs of Palestine. 
These were the events that occurred of this description in the 
first year of the persecution, as it was then excited only against 
the prelates of the church. 




352 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER III. 

TimotheuSf Agapius, Thecla, and eight others. 

In the course of the second year, when the war was blazing 
more violently against us, when Urbanus had the government of 
the province, imperial edicts were first issued to him, in which it 
was ordered by a general command, that all persons of every 
people and city should sacrifice and make libations to the idols. 
Timotheus, at Gaza, a city of Palestine, endured a multitude of 
tortures, and after the rest was condemned to be consumed by a 
slow and gentle fire, exhibiting in all his sufferings a most indubit- 
able proof of his sincere devotedness to God, and thus bore away 
the crown of those holy wrestlers who triumphed in the cause 
of piety. At the same time with him were condemned to be 
cast to the wild beasts, Agapius, who displayed the noblest 
firmness in his confession, and Thecla, our contemporary.* But 
who could help being struck with admiration and astonishment 
at the sight, or even at the very recital of those things that then 
occurred ? For, as the heathen in every place were on the point 
of celebrating their accustomed games and festivals, it was much 
noised abroad, that besides the other exhibitions with which they 
were so greatly captivated, those that were just condemned to 
the wild beasts would exhibit a combat. This report being in- 
creased, and spreading among all, there were six young men, 
who, first binding their hands, hastened with all speed to Urba- 
nus, to prove their great alacrity to endure martyrdom, who was 
then going to the amphitheatre, and declared themselves Chris- 
tians. The names of these were Timolaus, a native of Pontus, 
Dionysius of Tripolis in Phoenice, Romulus a subdeacon of the 
church at Diospolis, Paesis and Alexander, both Egyptians; 
another Alexander from Gaza. These, by their great prompt- 
ness in the face of all terrors, proved that they gloried in the 

* Eusebius seems to add " our contemporary," to distinguish this Thecla from 
the companion of St. Paul, mentioned by the Greek and Latin fathers. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 353 

worship of the true God, and were not alarmed at the assaults of 
beasts of prey ; and, indeed, both the governor and those around 
him were amazed. They were, however, immediately commit- 
ted to prison. Not many days after, two others were added to 
their number, of whom one had already before sustained the 
conflict of confession several times, imder a variety of dreadful 
torments ; he was, also, called Agapius, but the other who sup- 
plied them with the necessaries of Hfe, was named Dionysius. 
All these, eight in number, were beheaded in one day at Cesarea, 
on the twenty-third day of the month Dystrus, that is, the ninth 
of the calends of April. In- the mean time, a certain change 
took place with the emperors, the first and the second in the im- 
perial dignity retiring to private life, and public affairs began to 
wear a troubled aspect. Shortly after, the Roman empire was 
divided, and a dreadful civil war arose among the Romans them- 
selves ; nor did the schism cease, nor the consequent commotions 
become finally settled, before peace was proclaimed toward us 
throughout the whole Roman world. For as soon as this arose 
like a Kght upon all, springing up from the densest and most 
gloomy night, the government was again restored to firmness, 
tranquillity, and peace, and they resumed that benevolent disposi- 
tion towards one another, which they had derived from their an- 
cestors. But of these matters we shall give a more full accoimt in 
its proper place. Now let us pursue the thread of our narrative 
in due order. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Apphianus. 



Maximinus Cesar, who was afterwards raised to the govern- 
ment, as if to exhibit the evidences of his innate hatred to God 
and his aversion to piety, armed himself to persecute with greater 
violence than those before him. Hence, as there was no little 
confusion raised among all, some scattered here and others there, 
and endeavouring by all means to escape the danger; and as 

2Y 



354 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

there was the greatest tumult thjroughout the empire, what de- 
scription would suffice to give a faithful account of that divine 
love and that freedom of confession, that distinguished the martyr 
Apphianus, that blessed and truly innocent lamb ? He was scarce- 
ly twenty years old, when he presented a w^onderful instance of 
solid piety toward the one only God, as a kind of spectacle to all 
before the gates of Cesarea. And first when for the purpose of 
pursuing Greek literature, as he was of a very wealthy family, 
he passed the most of his time at Berytus, it is wonderful to 
tell how in the midst of such a city, notwithstanding the entice- 
ments of youthful passions, he was superior to all, and was neither 
corrupted in his morals by the vigour of his body, nor his asso- 
ciation with young men, but embraced a modest and sober life, 
walking honestly and piously, and regulating his conversation 
as one who had embraced the Christian faith. Were it neces- 
sary to mention his country, and thus to celebrate the place that 
gave birth to so noble a wrestler in the cause of religion, we 
shall cheerfully do also this. Pagas, a city of Lycia, of no mean 
account, and which may be known to some of my readers, was 
the place whence this youth derived his origin. After his return 
from his studies at Berytus, though his father held the first rank 
in his country, being unable to bear dwelling with his father and 
the rest of his kindred, because they did not approve of living 
according to the laws of piety, as if impelled by the divine Spirit 
and by a kind of natural, rather say an inspired and genuine, 
philosophy, deeming it better than what is considered glory in life, 
and despising the soft pleasures of the body, he secretly fled from 
his friends. And without any concern for his daily expenses, in 
his trust and faith in God, he was conducted as if led by the Holy 
Spirit, to the city of Cesarea, where was prepared for him the 
crown of martyrdom, for his piety. Having associated with us 
there, and having studied the holy Scriptures as much as could 
be for a short time, and having prepared himself most cheerfully 
by the proper exercises and discipline, he finally made so illus- 
trious an end, as could not be witnessed again without amaze- 
ment. 

Who could listen without wonder to the freedom with which 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 355 

he spoke, behold his firmness, and before this, the courage and 
the energy of this youth, who gave evidence of a zeal for piety 
and a spirit more than human? For when a second excite- 
ment was raised against us by Maximinus, in the third year of 
the persecution, and the edicts of the tyrant, to this effect were 
first issued, that all persons every where should publicly offer 
sacrifices, and that the rulers of the cities should see to this with 
all care and diligence, when the heralds also were proclaiming 
throughout all Cesarea, that men women and children should 
come to the temples of the idols, at the command of the gover- 
nor ; and moreover, the military tribunes were calling upon each 
one by name, from a list, and the heathen were rushing in an 
immense crowd from every quarter, this youth fearlessly and with- 
out imparting his purpose to any, stealing away from us who 
dwelt in the same house, and unobserved by the military band 
around the governor, approached Urbanus who happened then 
to be making libations. Fearlessly seizing his right hand, he sud- 
denly interrupted him in the act of sacrificing. Then he coun- 
selled and exhorted him in a solemn and serious tone to abandon 
his error, saying it was not right that we should desert the one 
only and true God, to sacrifice to idols and daemons. This was 
done by the youth, as is very probable, under the impulse of a 
divine power, which by this deed gave a kind of audible testi- 
mony, that the Christians, those to wit that were really such, 
were so far from abandoning the religion which they had once 
embraced, that they were not only superior to all the threatened 
dangers, and the punishments consequent on these ; but over and 
above this, acted with still greater freedom, and declared them- 
selves with a noble and fearless utterance, and were it possible 
that their persecutors could be dehvered from their ignorance, 
even exhorted them to acknowledge the one only and true God. 
After this, he of whom we are now speaking, as might be ex- 
pected in the case of an act so daring, was immediately seized 
and torn by the soldiers like ravenous beasts, and after suffering 
most heroically innumerable stripes on his whole body, was cast 
into prison until further orders. There, being stretched by the 
tormentor with both feet a night and day, on the rack, he was 



356 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the next day brought to the judge, and when force was applied 
to make him sacrifice, he exhibited an invincible fortitude in 
bearing pain and horrid tortures. His sides were not only once 
or twice, but often furrowed and scraped to the very bones and 
bowels, and at the same time he was beaten with so many blow^s 
on the face and neck, that by reason of his bruised and swollen 
face, he was no more recognised by those who had known him 
well. But as he did not yield even to this, they covered his 
feet with linen steeped in oil, and at the command of the gover- 
nor the tormentors applied fire to these. The sufferings which 
this blessed youth then endured, seems to me to exceed all power 
of description. The fire, after consuming his flesh, penetrated 
to the bones, so that the humours of the body, liquefied like wax, 
fell in drops ; but as he did not yield even to this, his antagonists 
being defeated, and how only at a loss to account for his more 
than human perseverance, he was again committed to prison. At 
last he was. summoned the third day before the judge again, and 
still declaring his fixed purpose in the profession of Christ, already 
half dead, he was thrown into the sea and drowned. 

What happened immediately after this, would scarcely be 
credited by any who had not seen with his own eyes. But not- 
withstanding this, we cannot but record the events, as we may 
say, all the inhabitants of Cesarea were witnesses of the fact. 
There was no age that was not present at this wonderful sight. 
As soon as this really blessed and holy youth was cast into the 
deepest parts of the sea, suddenly a roaring and uncommon 
crashing sound, pervaded not only the sea but the whole sur- 
rounding heavens. So that the earth and the whole city was 
shaken by it. And at the same time with this wonderful and 
sudden shaking, the body of the divine martyr was cast by the 
sea before the gates of the city, as if unable to bear it. And 
such was the martyrdom of the excellent Apphianus, on the 
second day of the month Xanthicus, or, Roman style, the fourth 
of the nones of April, on the day of the preparation, or Friday. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 357 

CHAPTER V. 

The martyrs Ulpian and Mdesius, 

But about the same time, and in those very days, there was a 
young man named Ulpianus, at the city of Tyre, who also, after 
dreadful torments, and the most severe scourgings, was sown in a 
raw bull's hide, together with a dog and poisonous asp, and 
thrown into the sea. Hence, also, he appears deservedly to 
claim a place among the martyrdoms noticed with Apphianus. 
A short time after, very much the same sufferings w^ere endured 
by yEdesius, who was the own brother of Apphianus, not only in 
the flesh but in God, after innumerable confessions, and pro- 
tracted torments in bonds, after being repeatedly condemned by 
the judges to the mines in Palestine, and after a life and con- 
versation, in which, amid all these circumstances, his garb and 
his deportment was that of a philosopher. He had, also, en- 
joyed an education still more finished than his brother, and 
had studied the different branches of philosophy. When he 
saw the judge at Alexandria, condemning the Christians there, 
and rioting beyond aU bounds, sometimes insulting grave and 
decent men in various ways, sometimes consigning females of 
the greatest modesty, and virgins who had devoted themselves to 
the duties of religion, to panders, to endure every kind of abuse 
and obscenity, on seeing this he made an attempt similar to that 
of his brother. As these things appeared insufferable, he drew 
near with determined resolution to the judge, and with his words 
and acts covered him with shame. For this he courageously 
endured multiplied forms of torment, and was finally honoured 
vdih. his brother's death, and cast into the sea. But this, as I 
before said, happened in the way here related, a short time after 
the death of the former. 



358 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The martyr Agapius. 

But in the fourth year of the persecution, on the twelfth of the 
calends of December, which would be on the twentieth of the 
month of Dius, on the day before the Sabbath, Friday, in the same 
city of Cesarea, occurred what was eminently worthy of record. 
This happened in the presence of the tyrant Maximinus, who was 
gratifying the multitudes with public shows, on the day that was 
called his birthday. As it was an ancient practice when the em- 
perors were present, to exhibit splendid shows then, if at any 
time, and for the greater amusement of the spectators, to collect 
new and strange sights, in place of those customary; either 
animals from some parts of India, Ethiopia, or elsewhere ; some- 
times, also, men who, by artificial dexterities of the body, ex- 
hibited singular spectacles of adroitness, and to complete the 
whole, as it was an emperor that exhibited the' spectacles at 
this time, it was necessary to have something more than common 
and singular, in the preparation of these games ; (and what then 
should this be ?) one of our martyrs was led forth into the arena 
to endure the contest for the one and only true religion. This 
was Agapius, who we have already said had been thrown, to- 
gether with Thecla, to the wild beasts. After being paraded 
with malefactors, from the prison to the stadium, already a third 
time and often, and after various threats from the judges, whether 
through compassion, or out of hope of changing his purpose, had 
been deferred from time to time for other contests ; at length, 
when the emperor was present he was led forth. As if he had 
been designedly reserved for that time, and that also the decla- 
ration of our Saviour might be fulfilled, which he declared to his 
disciples in his divine foreknowledge, that they would be led be- 
fore kings, for the sake of confessing him. He was brought, 
therefore, into the stadium, with a certain criminal, who they 
said was charged with killing his master. This latter one then, 
the murderer, when cast to the beasts, was honoured with cle 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 359 

mency and mercy, not unlike the manner in which Barnabas 
was in our Saviour's time. Hence the whole theatre resounded 
with applauses, that the blood-stained homicide was so humanely 
saved by the emperor, and was moreover honoured with liberty 
and dignity. But this wrestler of piety was first summoned by 
the tyrant, then demanded to renounce his purpose with the pro- 
mise of liberty. With a loud voice he declared, that he would 
cheerfully and with pleasure sustain whatever he might inflict 
on him ; not indeed, for any wickedness, but for his veneration of 
the God of the universe. Saying this, he combined actions with 
his words, and rushing against a bear let loose upon him, he most 
readily offered himself to be devoured by the beast, after which 
he was taken up yet breathing, and carried to prison. Surviving 
yet one day, he had stones bound to his feet, and thus was plunged 
into the midst of the sea. Such then was the martyrdom of 
Agapius. 



CHAPTER VIL 

The martyrs Theodosia, Domninus, and Auxentius, 

The persecution had now been extended to the fifth year, 
when on the second of the month Xanthicus, that is the fourth 
of the nones of April, on the very day of our Lord's resurrection, 
again at Cesarea a virgin of Tyre, Theodosia by name, not yet 
eighteen years old, but distinguished for her faith and virtue, ap- 
proached some prisoners, confessors of the kingdom of Christ, 
seated before the judgment seat, with a view to salute them, 
and as is probable, with a view to entreat them to remember 
her when they should come before the Lord. Whilst she was 
doing this, as if it were some impious and atrocious deed, she was 
seized by the soldiers, and led away to the commander. Pre- 
sently, merciless and savage as he was, he had her tortured with 
dreadful and horrific cruelties, furrowing her sides and breasts 
with instruments even to the very bones, and whilst yet breath- 
ing, and with all exhibiting a cheerful and joyous countenance, 



360 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

he orders her to be cast into the sea. Proceeding next from 
her to the other confessors, he consigned them all to the mines 
at Phoeno in Palestine. After this, on the fifth of the month 
Dius, on the nones of November, Roman style, in the same city, 
Silvanus, who was yet a presbyter, became a confessor, and not 
long after he was both honoured with the episcopate, and finally 
crowned with martyrdom. The same judge condemned those 
who exhibited the noblest firmness in the cause of piety, to la- 
bour in the same mines, having first ordered their ancles to be 
disabled by searing with red hot irons. At the same time that 
this sentence was passed, he ordered one who had rendered him- 
self illustrious on innumerable occasions of confession, to be com- 
mitted to the flames. This was Domninus, well known to all in 
Palestine, for his great freedom. After which, this judge, who 
was a terrible inventor of miseries, and particularly ingenious in 
new devices against the doctrine of Christ, planned torments 
against the Christians, such as had never before been heard of. 
He condemned three to pugilistic combat ; but Anxentius, a grave 
and holy presbyter, he ordered to be cast to the beasts, others 
who had reached the age of maturity, he made eunuchs, and con- 
demned them to the mines ; others again, after dreadful tortures, 
he cast into prison. Among these was Pamphilus that dearest* 
of my friends and associates, a man who for every virtue was 
the most illustrious martyr of our times. Urbanus having first 
made trial of his skill in the art of rhetoric, and the studies of 
philosophy, after this attempted to force him to offer sacrifice. 
When he saw him refusing, and not even regarding his threats, at 
last becoming transported with rage, he orders him to be tortured 
with more excruciating pains. Then this monster in cruelty ob- 
stinately and incessantly applied the instruments, to furrow and 
lacerate his sides, all but entering and feeding upon his very 
flesh, and yet after all, defeated and covered with shame, he 
committed likewise him to those confessors in prison. But what 

* This is the Pamphilus from whom Eusebius obtained the surname of Pamphi- 
lus. This, however, should not be understood as a surname, but as an appellation 
indicative of attachment to his friend. It should be written in its original, Eute/3<o5 
n»fKftKov, Eusebius, the friend of Pamphilus ; <fi\os being understood. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 361 

kind of return this tormentor will receive at the hands of divine 
justice, for his cruelties against the saints, and after rioting to 
such extent against the confessors of Christ, is easy to conjecture 
from the preludes to these judgments here. For immediately- 
after his crimes against Pamphilus, whilst he held the govern- 
ment, the divine justice suddenly overtook him, thus. That man 
whom we but yesterday saw judging on a lofty seat, and sur- 
rounded by a guard of soldiers, and ruling over all Palestine, and 
the associate, and favourite, and guest of the tyrant, stripped 
in a single night, and divested of all his honours, and covered 
with disgrace and ignominy, before those who had courted him 
as the emperor himself, him we saw timid and cowardly ut- 
tering cries and entreaties like a woman before all the people, 
whom he had ruled. The same just providence also made that 
very Maximinus upon whom he so boastingly relied, as if he 
loved him exceedingly for his dreadful deeds against us ; him I 
say, in the same city, the justice of God erected into a most re- 
lentless and cruel judge, who pronounced sentence of death 
against him, after the numerous crimes of which he was con- 
victed. But let this account of him suffice, by the way. Perhaps 
a suitable occasion may offer, in which we shall also relate the 
end of those wicked men that were principally concerned in 
waging war against us, and also of Maximinus himself, together 
with those of his ministers in this work. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

Other confessors; also Valentina and Paulus. 

When the storm had incessantly raged against us into the sixth 
year, there had been before this a vast number of confessors of 
true religion in what is called the Porphyry quarry, from the name 
of the stone which is found in Thebais. Of these, one hundred, 
w^anting three, men, women, and young infants, were sent to the 

2Z 



362 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

governor of Palestine, who, for confessing the supreme God and 
Christ, had the ancles and sinews of their left legs seared off with 
a red hot iron. Besides this they had their right eyes first cut 
out, together with the lids and pupils, and then seared with red 
hot iron, so as to destroy the eye to the very roots. All this was 
done by the order of Firmilianus, who was sent thither as suc- 
cessor to Urbanus, and acted in obedience to the imperial com- 
mand. After this he committed them to the mines in Palestine, 
to drag out a miserable existence in constant toil and oppressive 
labour. 

Nor was it enough, that those who endured such miseries were 
deprived of their eyes, but those natives of Palestine, also, whom 
we have already mentioned as condemned to pugilistic combats, 
as they neither would suffer themselves to be supported from the 
imperial treasury, nor undergo the exercises preparatory to the 
combat, hence they were now brought, not only before the go- 
vernors, but before Maximinus himself, where, displaying the 
noblest firmness in their confessions, by enduring hunger and 
stripes, they suffered finally the same that the former did, with 
the addition of other confessors from the same city. Immedi- 
ately after these, others were seized, who had assembled in the 
city of Gaza to hear the holy Scriptures read, some of whom 
suffered the same mutilations in their eyes and feet ; others were 
obliged to endure still greater sufferings, by having their sides 
furrowed and scraped in the most dreadful manner. Of these, 
one who was a female in sex, but a man in reason, not enduring 
the threat of violation, and having used a certain expression 
against the tyrant, for committing the government to such cruel 
judges, she was first scourged, then raised on high on the rack, 
was lacerated and galled in the sides. But as those who were^ 
appointed for this incessantly and vehemently applied the tor- 
tures according to the orders of the judge, another woman who, 
like the former, had contemplated a life of perpetual virginity, 
though ordinary in bodily form, and common in appearance, yet 
possessing a mind otherwise firm, and an understanding superior 
to her sex, was unable to bear the merciless, cruel, and inhmnan 
scene before her, and with a courage exceeding all the far-famed 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 363 

combatants among the Greeks for their liberty, she exclaimed 
against the judge, from the midst of the crowd, " And how long, 
then, wdll you thus cruelly torture my sister ?" He, the more 
bitterly incensed by this, ordered the woman immediately to be 
seized. She was then dragged into the midst, and after she had 
called herself by the august name of our Saviour, attempts were 
first made to bring her over to sacrifice by persuasion. But 
when she refused, she was dragged to the altar by force. But 
her sister remaining the same, and still adhering to her purpose, 
with a resolute, intrepid step, she kicked the altar, and over- 
turned all on it, together with the fire. Upon this, the judge, ex- 
asperated, like a savage beast, applied tortures beyond all that 
he had done before, all but glutting himself with her very flesh, 
by the wounds and lacerations of her body. But when his mad- 
ness was gratified to satiety, he bound her and the former, whom 
she called sister, together, and condemned them to the flames. 
The former of these was said to be of Gaza, but the other, A^alen- 
tina by name, was a native of Cesarea, and well known to many. 
But how could I sufficiently describe the martyrdom that followed 
this, and with which the most blessed Paulus was crowned? 
Who, indeed, was condemned at the same time with these, under 
one and the same sentence of death. About the time of his ex- 
ecution, he i-equested of the execuiioner, who was on the point 
of cutting off" his head, to allow him a short space of time, which 
being granted, with a loud and clear voice, he first interceded 
with God in his prayers, imploring pardon for his fellow-christians, 
and earnestly entreating that peace and liberty might be soon 
granted them. Then he prayed for the conversion of the Jews 
to God through' Christ. Then he proceeded, in order, imploring 
the same things for the Samaritans, and those Gentiles who were 
in error and ignorance of God, that they might come to his know- 
ledge, and be led to adopt the true religion, not omitting, or 
neglecting, to include the mixed multitude that stood around. 
After all these, oh, the great and inexpressible forbearance ! he 
prayed for the judge that condemned him to death, for the im- 
perial rulers themselves, and for him, too, that was about to 
sever his head from his body, in the hearing of him and all pre- 



m 



364 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



sent, supplicating the supreme God, not to impute to them their 
sin against him. 

Praying thus, with a loud voice, and moving almost all to com- 
passion and tears, as one unjustly slain, yet composing himself, 
and submitting his bare neck to the stroke of the sword, he was 
crowned with a divine martyrdom on the twenty-fifth of the 
month Panemus, which would be the eighth of the calends of 
August. And such was the end of these. But after the lapse 
of no long time, one hundred and thirty other noble wrestlers of 
the Christian faith, undergoing the same mutilations of eyes and 
feet with the former in Egypt ; some by the order of Maximinus 
were condemned and sent away to the mines in Palestine, others 
to those in Cilicia. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The renewal of the persecution with greater violence. 
Zebina, Germanus, and others. 



Antoninus, 



After the flame of persecution had relaxed its violence amid 
such heroic achievements of the noble martyrs of Christ, and 
had been almost extinguished with the blood of holy men, and 
now some relief and liberty had been granted to those con- 
demned to labour in the mines for Christ's sake, and we began to 
breathe an air somewhat purer, I know not how, he that had 
received the powier to persecute, was again roused by a new im- 
pulse against the Christians. Immediately, therefore, edicts were 
issued against us from Maximinus, every where in the provinces. 
Governors and the Praetorian Praefect, in proclamations and edicts, 
and public ordinances, urged the magistrates and generals, and 
notaries in every city, to execute the imperial mandate, which 
ordained, that with all speed the decayed temples of the idols 
should be rebuilt, and that all people, men, women, domestics, 
and even infants at the breast, should sacrifice and make liba- 
tions, and that they should be diligently made to taste of the ex- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 365 

ecrable sacrifices, that the things for sale in the markets should 
be defiled with the libations of victims, and that before the baths, 
guards should be stationed, who should pollute those that had 
been cleansed in these, with their execrable sacrifices. These 
things being thus performed, and our brethren, as was natural, 
being from the beginning most concerned, and the heathen them- 
selves censuring the severity and absurdity of the measure, as 
superfluous at best, for these measures appeared overbearing and 
oppressive even to them, and as there w^as a mighty storm 
gathering every where upon them, again the divine power of our 
Saviour infused such courage and confidence into his wrestlers, 
that without being drawn or even impelled by any one, they 
voluntarily trampled upon the threats of such opponents. Three, 
therefore, of the believers joining together, rushed upon the go- 
vernor, offering sacrifice, and called upon him to desist from his 
error, for there was no other God but the Supreme Creator and 
maker of the universe. Then being asked who they were, they 
boldly confessed they were Christians. On this, FirmiKanus, in a 
rage, and without inflicting tortures, condemns them to capital 
punishment. Of these, one named Antoninus was a presbyter, 
another named Zebina was a native of Eleutheropolis, the third 
was named Germanus. They were executed on the thirteenth 
of the month Dius, on the ides of November. On the same 
day Ennathas, a woman of Sc}1;hopolis, ennobled also by the 
virgin's fillet, was added as an associate to them. She had not, 
indeed, done what the former had, but was dragged by force, 
and brought before the judge, and after being scourged, and en- 
during dreadful abuses w^hich were heaped upon her by Maxys, 
the tribune of the neighbouring district, and that without au- 
thority from a higher power, a man who was by no means as 
good as his name,* a sanguinary character in other respects, ex- 
ceedingly harsh and inflexible, and in his whole manner so really 
fierce and violent that he was in bad repute with all that knew 
him. This man, then, having stripped the blessed virgin of all 

* Perhaps our author alludes to some such signification as the Hebrew riDDD 
refuge, of which Maxys appears to be a derivative. 



366 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

her clothes, so as to leave only her body covered from her loins 
to her feet, but the rest bare, led her about the whole city of 
Cesarea, considering it a great feat that he caused her to be 
driven about the markets and beaten v^ith thongs of hide. And 
after all these cruelties, which she bore with the greatest firm- 
ness, she exhibited the same most cheerful alacrity, before the 
tribunal of the judge himself, when she was there condemned to 
the flames. Whilst aiming his cruelty and madness against the 
worshippers of the true God, he also went beyond all the dic- 
tates of nature, not even ashamed to deny the lifeless bodies of 
these holy men a burial. Night and day he ordered the dead 
bodies to be carefully watched, as they lay exposed in the open 
air, the food of beasts, and there was no small number of men 
present several days, of such as attended to this savage and bar- 
barous decree, and some, indeed, were looking out from their 
posts of observation, as if it were something worthy of their zeal 
to see that the dead bodies should not be stolen. But wild beasts, 
and dogs, and carniverous birds of prey, scattered the human 
limbs here and there in all directions, and the whole city around 
was spread with the entrails and bones of men, so that nothing 
ever appeared more dreadful or horrific, even to those who be- 
fore had been most hostile to us ; they did not indeed so much 
lament the calamity of those against whom these things w^ere 
done, as the nuisance against themselves, and the abuse heaped 
upon our common nature. 

For at the very gates of the city there was an exhibition pre- 
sented dreadful beyond all description and tragic recital, human 
flesh devoured not in one place only but scattered over every 
place ; for it was said that Hmbs and masses of flesh, and parts 
of entrails, w^ere to be seen even within the gates. Which things 
continuing to occur for many days, a strange event, like the fol- 
lowing, took place. The air happened to be clear and bright, 
and the aspect of the whole heavens was most serene. Then, 
suddenly, from the greater part of the columns that supported 
the public porticos, issued drops like tears, and the market places 
and streets, though there was no moisture from the air, I know 
not whence it came, were sprinkled with water, and became 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 367 

wet : so that it was immediately spread abroad among all, that 
in an unaccountable manner the earth wept, not being able to 
endure the extreme impiety of these deeds, and to address a re- 
proof to men of a relentless and callous nature, the very stones 
and senseless matter could bewail these facts. I well know that 
this account may, perhaps, appear an idle tale and fable to pos- 
terity, but it was not so to those who had its truth confirmed by 
their presence at the time.* 



CHAPTER X. 

Petrus Ascetes, Asclepius the Marcionite, and other martyrs. 

OiV the fourteenth of the following month Apellseus, i. e. the 
nineteenth of the calends of January, there were some from Egypt 
again seized by the spies appointed to observe those going out at 
the gates. They had been sent for the purpose of ministering to 
the necessities of the confessors in CiHcia. These experienced 
the same lot with those they came to serve, and were thus muti- 
lated in their eyes and feet. Three of them, however, exhibited 
a wonderful fortitude at Ascalon, where they were imprisoned, 
and bore away different prizes of martyrdom. One of them, 
named Ares, w^as committed to the flames, the others, Promus 
and Elias, were beheaded. But on the eleventh of the month 
Audynagus, i. e. on the third of the ides of January, in the same 
city of Cesarea, Petrus Ascetes,f also called Apselamus, from 
the village of Anea, on the borders of Eleutheropohs, like the 
purest gold, with a noble resolution, gave the proof of his faith 
in the Christ of God. Disregarding both the judge, and those 

* Perhaps some might smile at the supposed credulity of our author, but the 
miracle in this account was not greater than the malignity, and if man can per- 
form miracles of vice, we can scarcely wonder if Providence should present, at 
least, miracles of admonition. 

•j- Peter, called the Ascetic, probably from the extraordinary severity of life and 
self-denial that he exhibited so young. 



368 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

around him, that besought him in many ways, only to have com- 
passion on himself, and to spare his youth and blooming years, he 
preferred his hope in the supreme God to all, and even to life itself. 
With him, also, was said to be a certain bishop, named Ascle- 
pius, a follower of Marcion's error, with a zeal for piety, as he 
supposed, but not according to knowledge. Yet he departed this 
hfe on the same funeral pile. 



CHAPTER XL 

Pamphilus and others. 



The time is now come to relate, also, that great and celebrated 
spectacle exhibited by those who, in martyrdom, were associated 
with Pamphilus, a name thrice dear to me. These were twelve, 
who were distinguished by a prophetic and apostolic grace, as 
well as number. Of these, the leader, and the only one among 
them, however, with the dignity of presbyter at Cesarea, was 
IISlB Pamphilus; a man who excelled in every virtue through his 

whole life, whether by a renunciation and contempt of the world, 
by distributing his substance among the needy, or by a disregard 
of worldly expectations, and by a philosophic deportment and 
self-denial. But he was chiefly distinguished above the rest of 
us, by his sincere devotedness to the sacred Scriptures, and by 
an indefatigable industry in what he proposed to accomplish, by 
his great kindness and alacrity to serve all his relatives, and all 
that approached him. The other features of his excellence, 
which deserve a more full account, we have already given in 
a separate work on his life, consisting of three books. Referring, 
therefore, those that have a taste for these things, and who wish 
to know them, to this work, let us now prosecute the history 
of the martyrs in order. 

The second after Pamphilus that entered the contest was 
Valens, deacon of the church of JEiia, a man dignified by his ve- 
nerable and hoary locks, and rhost august by the very aspect of 
his great age ; well versed in the sacred Scriptures, in which 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 369 

he had no superior. For he had so much of them treasured up 
in his memory, that he did not require to read them, if he under- 
took at any time to repeat any parts of the Scriptures. 

The third that was most illustrious among them, was Paul of 
the city of Jamna, a man most fervent in zeal, and ardent in 
spirit, who before his martyrdom had already passed through the 
conflict of a confession for the faith, by enduring the tortures of 
searing with red hot iron. After these had been two whole years 
in prison, the occasion of their death was a second arrival of 
brethren from Egypt, who also suffered martyrdom with them. 
These had accompanied the confessors in Cilicia to the mines 
there, and were returning to their homes, and, like the former, 
at the entrance of the city of Cesarea, being questioned by the 
guards stationed at the gates, men of barbarous character, as 
they did not conceal the truth, they were immediately seized as 
malefactors caught in the very act, and taken in custody. There 
were five in number. When brought before the tyrant, they de- 
clared themselves freely before him, and were immediately com- 
mitted to prison. On the next day, being the sixteenth of the 
month Peritisis, and the fourteenth of the calends of March, Ro- 
man style, these, according to the decree, together with the asso- 
ciates of Pamphilus, were conducted before the judge. He first 
made trial of the invincible firmness of the Egyptians by every 
kind of torture, and by new and various machinery invented for 
the purpose. And first he asked the chief of them, after he had 
practised these cruelties upon him, who he was ; when, instead 
of his proper name, he heard him repeat some name of the pro- 
phets, which was done by them, if they happened to have had 
names given them by their parents from some of the names of 
the idols, in which case you would hear them calling themselves 
Elias, and Jeremiah, and Isaiah, Samuel and Daniel ; thus exhi- 
biting the true and genuine Israel of God, as belonging to those 
who are the real Jews* (spoken of by the apostle), not only in 
their works, but also in their proper names. 



* The author refers here to that passage of the apostle, Rom. ii. 28, where he 
draws the distinction between the mere nominal and the real Jew. 

3A 



I'l- 



i if 



370 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

When Firmilianus had heard some name Uke this of the mar- 
tyr, and yet did not understand the force or import of the name, 
he next asked him what was his country ? He gave an answer 
alhed to the former, saying that Jerusalem was his countiy, re- 
ferring to that city of which Paul speaks, " but the Jerusalem 
above is free, which is the mother of us all ;" also again : " And 
ye have come to mount Sion, and to the city of the hving God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem," and it was this that the martyr meant 
to signify. But the judge, fixed in thought and cast down in his 
mind, anxiously inquired what country, and in what part of the 
world it was ? Then he also appHed tortures to make him con- 
fess the truth. But he, w^ith his hands twisted behind his back, 
and his feet thrust into certain new machines, persevered in as- 
serting that he had said the truth. Then, again, being frequently 
asked what and where that city was that he had mentioned, he 
said that it was the city of the pious only, for none but these 
were admitted to it ; but that it lay to the very east, and the very 
rising sun. And here again, the martyr in this way philosophized 
according to his own sense, paying no regard to the tortures 
with which he was surrounded ; but as if he were without flesh 
and blood, he did not even appear to be sensible of his pains. But 
the judge at a loss, was greatly perplexed in mind, thinking that 
the Christians were collectively about establishing a city some- 
where in opposition and hostile to the Romans, and frequently in- 
quired where this city was, and examined w here the country lay 
towards the east. But after he had sufficiently tortured the young 
man with scourging, and lacerated him with many and various tor- 
tures, perceiving his mind unchangeably fixed in his former pur- 
pose and declarations, he passed the sentence of death against 
him. Such then, was the scene exhibited in the martyrdom of 
this one. The rest he exercised wdth trials of a similar kind, and 
finally destroyed in a similar manner. Wearied at last, and 
perceiving that it was all in vain to punish the men, and having 
fully satiated his curiosity, he proceeded against Pamphilus 
and his associates. But as he had learned that they had al- 
ready displayed an unchangeable alacrity in the confession of 
religion under torture, and also asked them whether they were 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 371 

yet disposed to obey, and yet received only the same answer, the 
last confession of every one in martyrdom, he inflicted upon them 
the same punishment with the former. These things done, a 
young man, who had belonged to the family of Pamphilus, as one 
who had dwelt with and enjoyed the excellent education and 
instruction of such a man, as soon as he learned the sentence 
passed upon his master, cried out from the midst of the people, 
requesting that the body at least should be interred. But the 
judge, more brute than man, and if any thing w^orse than brute, 
making no allowance for thd young man's age, only inquired this 
one thing, and heard him confess himself a Christian. On this, 
as if he w^ere w^ounded by a dart, swelling with rage, he orders 
the tormentors to exercise all their force against him. When he 
saw him refusing to sacrifice according to his orders, he com- 
manded that they should scrape and mutilate him, not as the 
flesh of a human being, but as stones and wood, or any other 
lifeless object, to the very bones, and the inmost parts and reces- 
ses of the bowels. This being continued for a long time, he at 
length perceived that he w^as labouring in vain, as he continued 
without uttering a sound or evincing any feeling, and almost 
totally lifeless, although his body was so dreadfully mangled with 
tortures. But as the judge was of an inflexible cruelty and in- 
humanity, he condemned him in this condition to be committed 
to a slow fire ; and thus this youth, although he had entered upon 
the combat last, yet he received his dismission from this life be- 
fore the decease of his master in the flesh, and whilst those that 
rivalled the first were yet fingering on the -w^ay. One could then 
see Porphyry, for this was his name, with the courage of one who 
had already triumphed in every species of combat, his body 
covered with dust, but yet his countenance bright and cheerful, 
and after this, with a courageous and exulting mind advancing 
on his way to death. Truly filled with the divine Spirit, and 
covered only with his philosophical garb thrown around him like 
a cloak, and with a calm and composed mind giving exhortations 
and beckoning to his acquaintance and friends, he preserved 
a cheerful countenance at the very stake. When the fire was 
kindled which was at some distance around him, he attracted 



i 



372 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and inhaled the flame in his mouth, and then most nobly perse- 
vering in silence, until his last breath, he uttered not another 
word after that which he uttered as soon as the flame reached 
him, calling upon Christ the Son of God, his helper. Such a 
wrestler then was Porphyry. But Seleucus, one of the confessors 
of the army, brought the intelligence of his martyrdom to Pam- 
philus ; and he, as the bearer of such intelligence, was imme- 
diately honoured with the same lot. For as soon as he had an- 
nounced the end of Porphyry, and had saluted one of the mar- 
tyrs with a kiss, some of the soldiers seized him and led him to the 
governor, who, as if to urge him to attach himself to the former, 
as his companion on the way to heaven, commands him imme- 
diately to be put to death. He was from Cappadocia, but among 
the chosen band of Roman soldiers, and one who had obtained no 
small share of honours. 

In the vigour of age, strength, size, and firmness of body, he 
was greatly superior to his fellow-soldiers, so that he was noted 
among all for his very appearance, and admired for the grandeur 
and the comeliness of his whole form. At the very beginning 
of the persecution, indeed, he was prominent in the trials of the 
confessors, by his patient endurance of the scourge, and after his 
renunciation of military life, he exhibited himself a zealous fol- 
lower of those who led a life devoted to the exercises of piety, 
in which, like a provident father, he proved himself a kind of 
overseer (eTtLGxoTtog,) and protector of destitute orphans and 
helpless widows, and of all those that were prostrated in poverty 
and sickness. Hence, also, he was honoured by that God who 
is better pleased with such charities than the fume and blood of 
sacrifices, to receive an extraordinary call to martyrdom. He 
was the tenth after those wrestlers mentioned that were perfect- 
ed in one and the same day, on which, as is probable, the mighty 
portals of eternal life were opened to Pamphilus, in a manner 
worthy of the man, and presented to him and to others a ready 
entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Immediately after Seleu 
cus, came the aged Theodulus, a grave and pious man, who was 
of the governor's family, and who on account of his age had 
been treated with more regard by FirmOianus than any of his 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 373 

domestics, as also, because he was now a father of the third 
generation, and had always evinced great fidelity and attach- 
ment to himself and family. He, however, pursuing the same 
course as Seleucus, when arraigned before his master, incensed 
him yet more than the former, and was condemned to endure the 
same martyrdom as our Saviour on the cross. One now re- 
maining of those who constituted the number twelve, already 
mentioned; after all the rest came Julianus, to complete it. He 
had just come from abroad, and not yet even entered the city, 
when learning the death of the martyrs on the road, just as he 
was, he immediately hastened to the sight. There, when he saw 
the earthly tabernacles of the holy men lying on the ground, 
filled with joy, he embraced every one, and kissed them all. 
Upon this he was immediately seized by the ministers of death, 
and conducted to Firmilianus, who consistently with his charac- 
ter, also consigned him to a slow and lingering fire. Then Ju- 
lianus, also, leaping and exulting with joy, gave thanks to God 
with a loud voice, who had honoured him vdth a martyrdom 
such as these endured, and was crowned v^th the martyr's death. 
He also was a native of Cappadocia, but in his manner he was 
most religious, and eminent for the sincerity and soundness of his 
faith. He was also a devoted man in other respects, and ani- 
mated by the Holy Spirit himself Such was the band and the 
company that met with Pamphilus, and were honoured to en- 
counter martyrdom with him. The sacred and holy bodies of 
these men, by the order of the cruel and impious governor, were 
kept and guarded for four days and nights to feed the wild 
beasts. But, as contrary to expectation, nothing would ap- 
proach them, neither beast nor bird of prey, nor dog, by a divine 
providence they were again taken up uninjured, and obtaining 
a decent burial, were interred according to the accustomed 
mode. But when the cruelty exercised against these was noised 
abroad among all, Adrianus, and Eubulus, from the region called 
Manganaea, came to the other confessors as far as Cesarea, and 
were also asked the cause of their coming at the gate of the 
city. They confessed the truth, and were brought before Firmi- 
lianus. He, as usual, without delay, after many tortures which 




374 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

he inflicted, by scourging and lacerating their sides, then con- 
demned them to be devoured by the beasts. After the lapse of 
two days, on the fifth of the month Dystrus, the third of the nones 
of March, the day that was considered the birthday of the tu- 
telary divinity of Cesarea,* he was cast before a lion, and after- 
wards slain with the sword. As to Eubulus, after another day 
and a half, on the very nones of March, which would be the 
seventh of Dystrus, when the judge had urged him much to enjoy 
that which was considered liberty among them, by offering the 
sacrifice, he preferred a glorious death in the cause of rehgion, 
and after being cast to the beasts like the former, was the last 
to close the list of the martyrs that wrestled for the faith at Ce- 
sarea. It is also worth while here to state, how at length the 
providence of God overtook the wicked governors themselves, 
together with the tyrants. For the same Firmilianus that raged 
with such violence against the martyrs of Christ, after receiving 
with the others the most signal punishment inflicted on him, at 
length ended his fife by the sword. And such, then, were the 
martyrdoms endured at Cesarea, during the whole period of the 
persecution. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The prelates of the church. 



But the events that occurred in the intermediate time, besides 
those already related, I have thought proper to pass by ; I mean 
particularly the circumstances of the different heads of the 
churches, who from being shepherds of the reasonable flocks of 
Christ that did not govern in a lawful and becoming manner, 
w^ere condemned, by divine justice, as unworthy of such a charge, 
to be the keepers of the unreasonable camel, an animal deformed 
in the very structure of its body, and condemned further to be 

* Every city was supposed by the heathen to have its tutelary divinity, who pre- 
sided over its destinies, and hence called to%>i, fortune, by our author. The tem- 
ples dedicated to these were hence called Tychea. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 375 

the keepers of the imperial horses ; also, the number and seve- 
rity of the burdens and oppressions they bore for the sake of the 
sacred vessels and property of the churches, from the imperial 
rulers and governors at the time in the midst of insult, injury, and 
torment; moreover, the ambitious aspirings of many to office, 
and the injudicious and unlawful ordinations, that took place, the 
divisions among the confessors themselves, the great schisms and 
difficulties industriously fomented by the factious among the new 
members, against the relics of the church, devising one innova- 
tion after another, and unmercifully thrusting them into the 
midst of all these calamities, heaping up affliction upon affliction ; 
all this, I say, I have resolved to pass by, judging it foreign to my 
purpose, wishing, as I said in the begmning, to shun and avoid 
giving an account of them. But whatsoever things are serious 
and commendable according to the Scriptures — "if there be 
any virtue, if there be any praise," deeming it most proper to tell 
and to describe these, and present them to the attention of the 
faithful, in a history of the admirable martyrs, as also, most con- 
sistent with that peace which has recently shone upon us from 
heaven, I shall consider myself as most likely to decorate the 
close of my work, if I present to the attention of the faithful an 
account of these. 



CHAPTER XIIL 

Silvanus and John, and thirty more other martyrs. 

The seventh year of the conflict against us was verging to its 
close, and the measures against us had gently and impercepti- 
bly received a less afflictive aspect, and had now continued until 
the eighth year, when there was no small number of confessors 
collected in the copper mines of Palestine, and these were enjoy- 
ing considerable freedom, so far as even to build houses for as- 
sembling together, then the governor of the province, a savage 
and wicked man, such indeed, as his acts against the martyrs 
proved him to be, came thither, and ascertaining the state of 



376 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

things, and the manner of those that Uved there, communicated 
the whole to the emperor, and wrote against them whatever 
slanders he thought proper. After this, being appointed as su- 
perintendent of the mines, he divided, as if by imperial orders, 
the multitude of confessors into different bodies, and sent some to 
inhabit Cyprus, some to Libanus. Others he scattered into seve- 
ral parts of Palestine, and commanded them all to labour in dif- 
ferent works. Then selecting those that appeared to be pre-emi- 
nent among them, he sent them away to the commander of the 
forces there. Of these, two were Egyptians, bishops Peleus and 
Nilus, another was a presbyter, and a fourth added to these 
named Patermuthius, well known to all for his great benevolence 
toward all. These the commander, after demanding a renuncia- 
tion of their religion, and not succeeding, committed to be consumed 
by the flames. Others again, had their lot cast there, in a separate 
place by themselves, as many of the confessors, as whether from 
age, or blindness, or other infirmities of body, were exempt from 
performing labour. Of these, the chief was Silvanus, a bishop 
from Gaza, who presented a venerable example of genuine 
Christianity. This man, one might say, was eminent for his con- 
fessions from the very first day of the persecution, through the 
whole time, in a variety of conflicts, and was reserved until that 
time, that this might be as the last seal of the whole conflict in 
Palestine. With him were associated many from Egypt, among 
whom also was John, who in the excellence of his memory sur- 
passed all of our time. He, indeed, had already before been de- 
prived of his eyes, and had his foot destroyed with burning irons, 
like the others, on account of his confessions, yet although his 
sight was already destroyed, he had the red hot iron nevertheless 
applied to him ; the butchers aiming at every display of cruelty, 
and inhumanity, and whatever was savage and brutal. And as 
this man was such, one has no cause to wonder at his philosophi- 
cal life and habits, as he appeared not so wonderful on this ac- 
count, as from the excellence of his memory. He had whole 
books of the sacred Scriptures written, as the apostle says, not on 
tables of stone, neither on skins of animals, nor papers destroyed 
by moths and time, but on the tables of flesh, in the heart, in an 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 377 

enlightened soul, and the pure eye of the mind. So that when- 
ever he wished to produce any passage, whether from the law, 
or the prophets, or the apostles, the historical parts or the gospels, 
he could repeat and produce it as from a treasury of learning, 
whenever he pleased. I confess that I myself was astonished 
when I first saw the man standing in the midst of a large multitude, 
and repeating certain parts of the holy Scriptures. For as far 
as I had opportunity only to hear his voice, I thought that he was 
reading as is usual in the congregations, but when I came near 
and saw the fact, all the others standing around, with their sound 
eyes, and him alone raising his mind and pronouncing without 
any artificial means, as a kind of prophet, and far surpassing 
those who were robust in body, I could not but glorify and praise 
God. And indeed, I seemed to behold an evident and solid proof 
in facts, that not he who appears in the external form is the real 
man, but in truth that which is in the soul and mind. For he, 
though mutilated in body, exhibited the greater excellence of 
power and virtue. But as to those already mentioned, who 
were living in a separate place, and were engaged in performing 
their accustomed duties, in prayer and fasting, and other exer- 
cises, God himself condescended to grant them a salutary issue, 
by extending his right arm to help them. 

The enemy, no longer able to bear them, armed with constant 
prayer to God, prepared to destroy and remove them from the 
earth, as troublesome to him. God granted him, also, power to 
do this, that at the same time he might not be restrained in his 
determined wickedness, and they might now receive the prizes 
of their varied conflicts. Thus, then, the thirty-nine, at the com- 
mand of the most execrable Maximinus, were beheaded in one 
day. And these were the martyrdoms exhibited in Palestine 
in the space of eight years, and such was the persecution in our 
day. It began, indeed, with the demolition of the churches, and 
grew to a great height during the insurrections from time to 
time under the rulers. In these, many and various were the 
contests of the noble wrestlers in the cause of piety, who pre- 
sented an innumerable multitude of martyrs through the whole 
province, among those from Libya, and through all Egypt, Syria, 

3B 



378 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

and those of the east, round as far as those of the region of Illy- 
ricum. For the countries beyond these, all Italy and Sicily, 
Gaul, and whatever parts extend toward the west, Spain, Mau- 
ritania, and Africa, as they did not experience the hostility of the 
persecution quite two years, very soon were blessed with the 
interposition and peace of God, as if his providence spared the 

« simplicity and faith of these men. For that, indeed, which was 

never before recorded in the annals of the Romans, this first ob- 
tained in our day contrary to all expectation. The empire was 
divided into two parts during this persecution. Those in the one 
part enjoyed peace, whilst those brethren that inhabited the other, 
endured innumerable trials one after another. But as soon as 
the divine favour prepared to display to us his kind and gracious 
care, then at length, also, our rulers themselves, through whom 
these wars were formerly waged against us, changing their mind 
i,.; in a most extraordinary manner, sounded a retreat, and extin- 

P guished the flame of persecution by kind ordinances and milder 

edicts. But we must not omit the recantation.* 

* Eusebius here intimates that he appended the imperial revocation to this book, 
and prepares us for it in these closing words. But as it does not appear in this 
place, the book, of course, does not end here. The defect is easily supplied from 
the last chapter of the eighth book. 



! 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 379 



BOOK IX. 



CHAPTER L 

The pretended relaxation. 



The revocation of the imperial edict that had been issued, was 
published every where, and in all places throughout Asia and 
its provinces. This being done, accordingly, in this way, Max- 
iminus, the tyrant of the east, the most impious of men, and most 
hostile to the rehgion which acknowledges only the supreme God, 
by no means satisfied with these mandates, instead of issuing an 
edict, gives verbal commands to the rulers under him, to relax 
the war against us. For as he had no power to oppose or to 
pursue a different course, and place himself in opposition to the 
judgment of his superiors, he suppressed the edict ; and designing 
that it should not be made public in the parts under him, he gives 
orders, without writing to his governors, to relax the persecution 
against us. These communicate the mandate to one another by 
letters. Sabinus, who held the highest rank and power among 
the provincial rulers, communicated the imperial will to the re- 
spective governors of the provinces, in a Latin letter, the transla- 
tion of which is as follows : 

" With a most persevering and devoted earnestness, their ma- 
jesties, our sovereigns and most august emperors, had formerly 
directed the minds of all men to live and conduct themselves ac- 
cording to the true and holy way, that even those who appeared 
to pursue practices foreign to the Roman, should exhibit the pro- 
per worship to the immortal gods. But the obstinacy and most 
unconquerable determination of some, rose to such a pitch,^ that 
they could neither be induced to recede from their own purpose 
by a due regard to the imperial command, nor be deterred by the 



w 



380 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

impending punishment inflicted. Since, then, it has happened 
that many incurred danger from a practice Hke this, their majes- 
ties our sovereigns, the most powerful emperors, in their pecuhar 
and exalted piety, deeming it foreign to the purpose of their majes- 
ties, that men should be thrust into so great danger for such a 
cause, have commanded (me in) my devotedness* to address 
(you in) your w^isdom, that if any of the Christians be found to 
observe the worship of their people, that you should abstain from 
molesting or endangering them, nor determine that any one should 
be punished on such a pretext; as it has been made to appear 
by the lapse of so long a time, that it has been impossible to in- 
duce them in any manner to abandon their obstinate course. It 
is incumbent, therefore, on your attentive care, to write to the 
governors and magistrates, and to the praefects of the districts of 
every city, that they may Imow^ that it is not necessaiy for them 
to pay any further regard to this edict (or business.)" 

After this, the rulers of the provinces thinking that the resolu- 
tion contained in these writings, was truly set forth to them, 
communicate by letter the imperial will to the controllers, 
magistrates, and prasfects of the different districts. Nor did 
they urge these things only by writing, but much more by their 

* The more literal translation of this passage may give the reader some idea of 
the kind of phraseology emplo3'^ed here. It would run thus — " have given orders 
through my devotedness to write to your discretion :" a.yx'votu signifies acuteness 
of discrimination. As Eusebius gives us here a Greek translation from the Latin, 
it would not be surprising to find Latinisms transferred here as well as in the edict 
before translated by him. We have suspected the original of y.-^Soc-ior,-,; here, to 
have been in the Latin sanctitas, a very comprehensive word, expressing integrity, 
inviolable fidelity, attachment. But the classical use of -/.xSoc-iory.g, would rather be 
sanctijicatio, very different, therefore, from sanctitas. 

We have in tliis mode of address, also, a specimen of that kind of style in which 
the great were addressed by others, and by one another. Some traces of it still 
exist in Europe, as in your Lordship, your Grace, your Excellency, &c. ; but it 
has prevailed no where to a greater extent than among the dignitaries of the Ger- 
man empire. Formerly almost every book that had a dedicatory epistle, abounded 
in this artificial mode of address ; so that unless one were apprized of the fact, it 
would be difl[icult to tell who it was that was addressed. This usage among the 
Germans is no doubt to be traced back to a more intimate connexion with the 
Roman empire. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 381 

acts, to execute the imperial mandate ; conducting those forth 
who had been imprisoned by them on account of their faith, 
they set them at liberty, and dismissing those who had been 
consigned £is a punishment to the mines. For this in mistake 
they supposed to be the true intention of the emperor. When 
these things had thus been executed, all on a sudden, like a flash 
of light blazing from dense darkness, in every city, one could 
see congregations collected, assemblies thronged, and the accus- 
tomed meeting held in the same places. Every one of the 
heathen was not a little astonished at these appearances, both 
amazed at the singular change of affairs, and exclaiming that 
the God of the Christians was the only great and true God. 
Those of our brethren who had faithfully and manfully passed 
through the conflict of persecution, also again obtained great pri- 
vileges with all. But those who had deserted their faith, and 
had been shaken in their souls by the tempest, eagerly hasten- 
ed to their remedy, supplicating and entreating the strong to 
give them the right hand of safety, and imploring God to be 
merciful unto them. Then, also, these noble wrestlers of reli- 
gion, liberated from the hardships of labouring in the mines, 
were dismissed every one to his own country. Joyous and cheer- 
ful they proceeded through every city, filled with an inexpres- 
sible pleasure and a confidence which language is inadequate to 
explain. Numerous bodies thus pursued their journey through 
the public highways and markets, celebrating the praises of God 
in songs and psalms. And they who a little before had been 
driven in bonds under a most merciless punishment, from their 
respective countries, you could now see regaining their homes 
and firehearths, with bright and exhilarated countenances; so 
that even they who before had exclaimed against us, seeing the 
wonder, beyond all expectation congratulated us on these events. 



382 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER II. 

The subsequent reverse. 

But the tyrant, unable to bear this state of things, an enemy 
of goodness, and as far as possible of good men, who we have 
already said was the sovereign of the parts in the east, did not 
suffer this course to hold out quite six months. And thus, whilst 
he was devising schemes in every possible way to destroy the 
peace, he first attempted to restrain us by a kind of pretext from 
assembling in the cemeteries.* Then he sent delegates to him- 
self f against us, through the agency of some abandoned charac- 
ters, stimulating the inhabitants of Antioch to request of him, as 
a very great favour, by no means to permit any of the Chris- 
tians to dwell at Antioch, and suborned others to do the same 
thing. Of all which things, Theotecnus was the cause and prime 
mover at Antioch, a man of a violent, artful, and wicked charac- 
ter, altogether the reverse of the name he bore. But he appears 
to have been the controller of that city. 



CHAPTER IIL 

The new statue erected at Antioch. 

After he had thus waged war against us by every means, 
and had caused our brethren with all diligence and care to be 
hunted up in their retreats, as thieves and malefactors, and had 
plotted against us by slander and accusation, and been the cause 
of death to vast numbers, he finally erected a certain statue of 
Jupiter Philius, with a variety of mummery and magic rites. 
And after reciting forms of initiation, and pronouncing dire in- 

* See note, Book VII. eh. ii. 

■j- Our author here represents Maximinus in the odd predicament of sending an 
embassy to himself, by suborning his agents to have this done. The original is 
pronounced by Valesius, elej^ans locutio, to which we may add sale plena. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 383 

auspicious mysteries before it, and inventing execrable modes of 
expiation, he even went so far as to exhibit his impostures to the 
emperor, by the oracles which he pretended to utter. Thus, by 
a flattery grateful to the emperor, he roused the daemon against 
the Christians, and said that God had commanded to expel the 
Christians as his enemies, beyond the limits of the city and the 
adjacent territory. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The decrees against us. 



As this man who took the lead in this matter, had thus suc- 
ceeded, all the rest in office that inhabited cities under the same 
government (of Maximinus,) proceeded to issue a similar decree. 
And the governors of provinces perceiving that it would be ac- 
ceptable to the emperor also, suggested to their subjects to do 
the same thing. To these decrees the emperor himself most 
readily assenting, the persecution that raged at first was again 
kindled against us. Hence, in every city priests were appointed 
for the images, and highpriests over these, by Maximinus him- 
self; these were from among those who had been most distin- 
guished for their public life, and had gained celebrity in the 
different stations they had filled. Who were also fired v^th 
great zeal for those objects that they worshipped. Li short, the 
absurd superstition of the emperor led on the rulers under him, 
as well as his subjects, to do all things against us in order to gra- 
tify him ; supposing this was the greatest proof of gratitude they 
could give for the kindnesses they had received from him, if 
they only exhibited slaughter, and constantly devised new plots 
and modes of mischief against us. 



384 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY- 

CHAPTER V. 

The false acts. 

Having forged, therefore, certain acts of Pilate, respecting our 
Saviour, full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ, these, with 
the consent of the emperor, they sent through the whole of the em- 
pire subject to him, commanding at the same time by ordinances 
in every place and city, and the adjacent districts, to publish 
these to all persons, and to give them to the schoolmasters to 
hand to their pupils to study and commit to memory, as exercises 
for declamation. Whilst these things were doing, another com- 
mander, whom the Romans call Dux, in Damascus, a city of 
Phoenicia, caused certain infamous females to be seized from the 
forum, and threatening to inflict torture upon them, he forced 
them to make a formal declaration, taken down on record, that 
they had once been Christians, and that they were privy to the 
criminal acts among them ; that in their very churches, they 
committed licentious deeds, and innumerable other slanders, 
which he wished them to utter against our religion. Which de- 
clarations he inserted in the acts, and communicated to the em- 
peror, who immediately commanded that these documents should 
be published in every city and place. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Those who suffered martyrdom at this time. 

This commander, however, ere long, laid violent hands upon 
himself,* and thus suffered punishment for his wickedness. But 
exiles and severe persecutions in the mean time were again re- 
newed against us, and the rulers of the provinces were every 
where again stirred up against us, insomuch that some who were 

* Our author's Greek here is both elegant and nervous. He became his otvn exe- 

CUtioner ; «UTO%s«p emotou ysyovws. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



385 



more distinguished for their skill in the divine word, when taken, 
received the sentence of death without mercy. Three of these in 
the city of Emesa in Phoenicia, professing themselves Christians, 
were thrown to be devoured by the wild beasts. Among these was 
Silvanus, a very venerable and superannuated bishop, who had 
been engaged in the ministry forty years. At the same time also, 
Peter, who presided over the churches of Alexandria with great 
reputation, an admirable instance of a bishop, both for the excel- 
lence of his life and his study of the sacred Scriptures. He was 
seized for no reason whatever, and beheaded, beyond all expecta- 
tion so suddenly, and without any cause assigned, as if by the or- 
ders of Maximinus. With him also many other bishops of Egypt 
suifered the same punishment. Lucianus, a man in all respects 
most excellent, temperate in his life, and conspicuous for his pro- 
ficiency in sacred literature. He was presbyter of the church 
at Antioch, and when brought to Nicomedia, where the emperor 
happened to be staying, he delivered a defence of his doctrine be- 
fore the governor, when he was committed to prison and slain. 
Such were the preparations made against us in so short a 
time, by the malicious Maximinus, so that it would appear this 
persecution now raising against us, was more severe than the 
former. 



CHAPTER VIL 

The measures decreed against us, and engraved on pillars^ 

The measures and the decrees of the cities against us, and 
copies of the imperial edicts appended to these, were engraved 
and erected on brazen tablets, a course never before adopted 
against us any where. The boys also in the schools had the 
names of Jesus and Pilate, and the acts forged in derision, in their 
mouths the whole day. And here appears to me the proper place 
to insert the epistle of Maximinus, engraven on brass, that at the 
same time the boasting and haughty arrogance of the man's 
hatred of God, and also God's just and ever vigilant hatred of 

3C 



386 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



iniquity against the wicked may appear, which soon overtook 
him, and by which he was urged onwards ; so that he did not 
long devise hostihties, and form decrees against us. The decree 
was as follows : 



Copy of the translated epistle of Maximinus, in answer to the ordi- 
nances (of the cities) against us, taken from the brazen tablet at 
Tyre. 

" Now at length the feeble powers* of the human mind have 
prevailed so far as to shake oiT and to scatter the mists of every 
error, and dissipate the clouds of delusion, which before this 
had beset the senses of those who were more miserable than 
profane, and enveloped them in a destructive darkness and igno- 
rance ; thus leading us to acknowledge that it is regulated and 
strengthened by the good providence of the immortal gods: 
which things it is incredible to say how grateful, how delightful 
and pleasing it is to us, how powerful an evidence it has fur- 
nished of your pious resolutions, since before this it could be un- 
known to none, how much regard and reverence you cherished to- 
wards the immortal gods, to whom faith is exhibited not by mere 
empty words, but by a constant and eminentf display of illustri- 
ous deeds. Wherefore, deservedly, may your city be called the 
seat and habitation of the immortal gods, for by many evidences 
it does appear most clearly that it flourishes by the presence and 
residence of the celestial gods. So then, your city, regardless of 
all local interest and advantage, and omitting the petitions for- 
merly presented to us, for its own political affairs, when it per- 
ceived the votaries of an execrable vanity again insinuating 
themselves, and as a funeral pile long disregarded and smothered, 
again rising in mighty flames and rekindling the extinguished 
brands, immediately without delay it took refuge to our piety, as 

* We have rendered the word a-pac-uTj); here, not according to the Greek, but what 
we conjecture was the original Latin. Audacity, the meaning of the Greek, seems en- 
tirely at variance with the whole drift of the sentence, even if it should be under- 
stood in the milder sense of confidence. If our author had before him the word vis 
animi, it is possible that he might have understood it in a lax sense, and rendered 
accordingly. 

f Probably the Latin here, was singularis, and our author rendered 7r»f»Soi». 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 387 

to the metropolis of all religion, entreating sonne remedy and re- 
lief. Which salutary mind it is evident the immortal gods have 
imparted to you on account of your faith and piety. Where- 
fore, that supreme and mighty Jove, he who presides over your 
most illustrious city, w^ho has rescued your country's gods, and 
wives, and children, and houses, and homes, from every destruc- 
tive pest, has infused into you the happy counsel, showing and 
proving to you how excellent, and noble, and profitable it is to 
observe the worship and the sacred rites of the immortal gods 
with the becoming reverence. For who can be so bereft of un- 
derstanding, and all sense, as not to perceive, that it has happen- 
ed by the gracious benevolence of the gods, that neither the 
earth has refused the seed committed to it, and disappointed the 
hope of the husbandmen, with vain expectation ; nor the pre- 
sence of impious war has been inevitably fixed on earth, and 
under a corrupt atmosphere wasting bodies have been dragged 
and weighed down to death; nor indeed, the ocean swelling 
and rising on high, with the raging blasts of intemperate storms, 
nor unexpected tempests have burst and spread destruction 
around. Moreover, that neither the parent and nurturing earth 
has risen in dreadful tremblings, from its lowest depths, nor the 
superincumbent hills and mountains have sunk into its opening 
jaws. All which calamities, and worse than these, have, as we 
all know, frequently occurred. And all this in consequence of 
the destructive error of this hollow delusion of those lawless 
men, when it began to take root in their minds, and we may say 
has covered nearly all the world with infamy." A little after, 
he superadds the following : 

" Let them look at the flourishing crops in the wide extended 
fields waving with the loaded ears, and the meadows glittering 
with plants and flowers, from the seasonable showers, and the 
temperature of the air restored to a mild and placid state. Then 
let all rejoice, that by your piety, and sacrifices, and veneration 
of the gods, the divinity of omnipotent and mighty Mars has 
been propitiated, and hence let them enjoy tranquillity and solid 
peace, be filled with pleasure and joy; and as many as have 
abandoned that blind delusion and perplexing error, whoever 



388 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

they may be, and have returned to the right and sound mind, let 
these rejoice still more, as those who have been rescued from an 
unexpected storm or severe disease, and let them enjoy the de- 
lightful fruits the rest of their life. But should they still adhere 
to their execrable folly, let them be driven out and separated far 
from your city and territory, as you have desired. That thus 
agreeably to your zeal, so praiseworthy in this respect, your 
city, separated from all pollution and impiety, may attend to the 
sacred rites of the immortal gods, according to its natural dispo- 
sition, with due veneration. That ye may also know how ac- 
ceptable this request of yours respecting this matter has been, 
and how very prompt our mind is to confer benefits of our own 
voluntary kindness, without decrees and without petitions, we 
grant to your devotedness to desire any privilege you please for 
this your pious purpose of mind, and now present your petitions 
to have this done and to receive it. For you shall obtain with- 
out delay. Which, indeed, when granted to your city, will be 
an evidence for ever of your devoted piety to the immortal gods, 
as also of the fact that you obtained by our kindness, merited 
prizes for this your purpose of life ; an evidence which will be 
exhibited to your children and posterity." 

Such, then, were the letters that were sent abroad against us 
in all the provinces, cutting us off from every hope of good, at 
least from men. So that, according to the holy Scriptures them- 
selves, if it were possible " the very elect would take ofience." 
And now, indeed, when the hope of most of us was almost ex- 
tinct, all on a sudden, almost whilst the agents of this decree 
against us were in some places yet on the way to carry it into 
effect, that God, who is the defender of his church, all but stop- 
ping the pomp and boasting of the tyrant's mouth, exhibited his 
heavenly interposition in our behalf. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 389 

CHAPTER VOL 

The events that occurred after these ; famine, 'pestilence, and war. 

Rains and showers which usually fell in the winter season, now 
withheld their accustomed contribution upon the earth. An un- 
expected famine came on, and pestilence after this. Another 
kind of sickness also followed, which was a species of ulcer called 
by an epithet the carbuncle, on account of its inflammatory ap- 
pearance. This spreading over the whole body, greatly endan- 
gered the lives of those afflicted with it. But as it prevailed 
mostly about the eyes, it deprived great numbers of men, women, 
and children of their sight. In addition to these calamities, the 
war with the Armenians threatented the tyrant. These men had 
been the friends and alhes of the Romans from ancient times, 
and as they were Christians, and greatly valued piety toward 
the Deity, and as the profane and impious tyrant had attempted 
to force them to sacrifice to idols and daemons, he made them 
enemies instead of friends, and belligerent foes instead of alhes. 
And all these troubles suddenly concurring at one and the same 
time, refuted the tyrant's boasting and blustering audacity against 
God. When, indeed, in his great zeal for idols, and his hostility 
to us, he boasted that neither famine nor pestilence nor war had 
happened in his times. All these then coming upon him at once, 
presented also the preludes to his own death. 

He, therefore, together with his army, was defeated in the war 
with the Armenians. But the rest of the inhabitants of cities 
under him were dreadfully afflicted both by famine and pesti- 
lence, so that a single measure of wheat was sold for two thou- 
sand five hundred Attic drachms.* Immense nimibers were 
dying in the cities, still more in the country and villages, so that 
now the vast population in the interior was almost entirely swept 
away, nearly all being suddenly destroyed by want of food and 
pestilential disease. Many, therefore, were anxious to sell their 

* About 175 dollars. 



390 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

most valuable effects to those better supplied, for the smallest 
quantity of food. Others gradually spending all their posses- 
sions were reduced to the last extreme of want. And now some 
even chewing remnants of hay, and others eating without distinc- 
tion certain noxious herbs, miserably destroyed the constitution 
of the body. Also, some of the more honourable females through- 
out the cities, constrained by want to throw aside all shame, 
went into the public markets to beg, indicating the evidences of 
their former liberal education, by the modesty of their counte- 
nances and the decency of their apparel. Some, indeed, wasted 
away to mere skeletons, stumbled hither and thither like dead 
shadows, trembling and tottering, from excessive weakness and 
inability to stand ; they fell down in the midst of the streets, 
where they lay stretched out, and only earnestly begged some 
one to hand them a little morsel of bread, then drawing in their 
breath, with the last gasp they cried out hunger ! having onljr 
strength sufficient for this most painful cry. Some, however, of 
those that appeared better supplied, astonished at the great mul- 
titude of those begging, after giving vast quantities away, after- 
wards yielded to a harsh and inflexible disposition, expecting 
that they would soon suffer the same things with those begging 
of them. So that now in the midst of the streets and lanes, the 
dead and naked bodies, cast out and lying for many days, pre- 
sented a most painful spectacle to the beholders. Some, indeed, 
were already the food of dogs, on which account, especially, the 
survivors began to slay the dogs, lest growing mad they should 
devour men. The pestilence, however, in the mean time, did not 
the less prey upon every house and family, particularly those 
however, whom the famine from their abundance of food could not 
destroy ; the wealthy, the rulers, generals, and vast numbers in 
office, who, as if they had been designedly left by the famine to 
the pestilence, were overtaken by a sudden, violent, and rapid 
death. All places, therefore, were filled with lamxcntation, in all 
streets, lanes, market places, and highways. Nothing was to be 
seen but tears, with the accustomed flutes, and funeral dirge. In 
this manner death waged a desolating war with these two wea- 
pons, famine and pestilence, destroying whole famiUes in a short 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTOUY. 391 

time, so that one now could see two or three dead bodies carried 
out at once. Such were the rewards of the pompous boasting 
of Maximinus, and of his edicts throughout the cities against us. 
Then, also, the evidences of the zeal and piety of the Christians 
became manifest and obvious to all, for they were the only ones 
in the midst of such distressing circumstances, that exhibited 
sympathy and humanity in their conduct. They continued the 
whole day, some in the care and burial of the dead, for number- 
less were they for whom there was none to care ; others collect- 
ing the multitude of those wasting by the famine throughout the 
city, distributed bread among all. So that the fact was cried 
abroad, and men glorified the God of the Christians, constrained 
as they were, by the facts, to acknowledge that these w^ere the 
only really pious and the only real worshippers of God. Whilst 
these things were thus doing, God, the great and celestial defender 
of the Christians, who exhibited his indignation and anger against 
men by these calamities, on account of the excesses committed 
against us, restored the benign and smiling brightness of his pro- 
vidence toward us, so that by a most wonderful concurrence of 
events, the light of his peace again began to shine upon us as 
from the midst of the densest darkness. Showing plainly to all, 
that God himself has been the ruler of our affairs at all times ; 
who sometimes, indeed, chastens and visits his people by various 
trials, from time to time, but after he has sufficiently chastened, 
again exhibits his mercy and kindness to those that trust in him. 



CHAPTER IX. 

The death of the tyrants, and their expressions before their end, 

CoNSTANTiNE, whom we have already mentioned as an em- 
peror born of an emperor, the pious son of a most pious and 
virtuous father, and Licinius next to him, were both in great 
esteem for their moderation and piety. These two pious rulers 
had been excited by God, the universal sovereign, against the 



392 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

two most profane tyrants, and engaging in battle, in an extraor- 
dinary manner, Maxentius feH under Constantine. But the other, 
(Maximinus) did not long survive him, being himself put to a 
most ignominious death, by Licinius, w^ho had not yet at that 
time evinced his insanity. But Constantine, who was first both 
in dignity and imperial rank, first took compassion upon those 
who were oppressed at Rome, invoking the God of heaven, and 
his Son and word our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all, as 
his aid advanced with his whole army, purporting to restore 
the Romans to that liberty which they had derived from their 
ancestors. Maxentius, however, relying more upon the arts of 
juggling than the affection of his subjects, did not venture to 
advance beyond the gates of the city, but fortified every place 
and region and city, with vast numbers of soldiers and innumer- 
able bands and garrisons in all places of Rome and Italy that 
were enslaved by him. But the emperor (Constantine) stimu- 
lated by the divine assistance, proceeded against the tyrant, and 
defeating him without difficulty in the first, second, and third en- 
gagements, he advanced through the greatest part of Italy, and 
came almost to the very gates of Rome. Then, however, that 
he might not be forced to wage war with the Romans for the 
sake of the tyrant, God himself drew the tyrant, as if bound in 
fetters, to a considerable distance from the gates ; and here he 
confirmed those miraculous events performed of old against the 
wicked, and which have been discredited by so many, as if belong- 
ing to fiction and fable, but which have been established in the 
sacred volume, as credible to the believer. He confirmed them, 
I say, as true, by an immediate interposition of his power, ad- 
dressed alike I may say to the eyes of believers and unbelievers. 
As, therefore, anciently in the days of Moses, and the religious 
people of the Hebrews, the chariots of Pharaoh, and his forces 
were cast into the Red Sea, and his chosen triple* combatants 
were overwhelmed in it; thus, also, Maxentius, and his com- 

* This passage is found Exod. xv. 4. The Hebrew is vtySiy in^Di, is rendered 
in our version, his chosen captains. It probably refers to three combatants on one 
chariot. On the import of the word in the Hebrew, and the Alexandrian version, 
see Biel, Drusius, Bochart, Gesenius. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 393 

batants and guards about him, sunk into the depths Uke a stone, 
when he fled before the power of God that was with Constantine, 
and passed through the river in his way, over which he had 
formed a bridge by joining boats, and thus prepared the means 
of his own destruction. Here one might say, " he digged a pit 
and opened it, and he fell into the ditch that he made, his mis- 
chief shall fall upon his own head, and his iniquity descend 
upon his own pate." Thus, then, the bridge of boats over the 
river being broken, the crossing began to cease, and immediately 
the vessels with the men sunk, and were destroyed, and the most 
impious tyrant himself first of all, then the guards that he had 
around him, just as the divine oracles declare, sunk like lead in 
the swelling floods. So that justly might those who obtained the 
victory from God, if not in word, at least in deeds, similar to those 
whom that great servant of God, Moses led on, sing and say the 
same that they sang against that impious tyrant of old. " Let us 
sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse 
and his rider he hath cast into the sea : the Lord is my helper 
and defender, and he is become my salvation. Who is like unto 
thee, O Lord, among the gods ; who is like unto thee, glorious in 
holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." 

Such, and the like expressions, did Constantine sing to God, the 
universal sovereign and author of the victory by his deeds, as he 
entered Rome in triumph. All the senate and others of illustri- 
ous rank, together with their wives and infant children, with the 
whole Roman people, received him as their deliverer, their saviour, 
and benefactor, with cheerful countenances and hearts, with bless- 
ings and unbounded joy. But he, according to the piety deeply 
implanted in him, neither exulting in the shouts that were raised, 
nor elated by the plaudits bestowed upon him, well perceiving 
the assistance which he had received from God, immediately 
commanded a trophy of the Saviour's passion to be placed in the 
hand of his own statue. And when they had erected his statue, 
thus holding the salutary sign of the cross in his right hand, in 
the most public place at Rome, he commanded the following in- 
scription to be written, in the Roman tongue, as follows : 

" By this salutary sign, the true ornament of bravery, I have 

3D 



394 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

saved your city, liberated from the yoke of the tyrant. Moreover, 1 
have restored both the Senate and the Roman people to their an- 
cient dignity and splendour.^'* After this, Constantine himself, and 
his imperial colleague Licinius, who had not then yet been per- 
verted into that madness which he afterwards evinced, both cele- 
brating and praising God, as the author of all their successes, 
with one consent and resolve drew up a full and most compre- 
hensive decree respecting the Christians ; and sent an account 
of the wonderful things done for them by God, the victory they 
had obtained over the tyrant, and the law itself to Maximinus, 
who was yet sovereign of the east, and pretended friendship to- 
ward them. But he, tyrant as he was, was greatly troubled at 
what he learned. Then, in order not to seem disposed to yield 
to others, nor to suppress what was commanded, for fear of those 
who had commanded, as if he acted on his own authority, he of 
necessity addressed the following decree, first to the governors 
under him, respecting the Christians, falsely and fictitiously al- 
leging against himself what had never been done by him.f 

Copy of the translated epistle of the tyrant Maximinics, 

*' Jovius Maximiivus Augustus, to Sabinus : I trust that it is 
obvious to your gravity and to all men, that our sovereigns and 
parents, Diocletian and Maximinus, when they saw^ almost all 
men abandoning the worship of the gods, and attaching them- 
selves to the people of the Christians, rightly ordained that all 
men that swerved from the w^orship of the same immortal gods 
should be reclaimed, by the infliction of punishment and pain, to 
the worship of the gods. At the time, however, when I first 
came to the east, under favourable auspices, and ascertained that 
great numbers of men, capable of rendering service to the repub- 
lic, were banished by the judges for said reason, I issued or- 

* In the Greek style of this inscription, we may see some traces of the Latin 
original. 

■j- Our author here represents Maximinus guilty of the double inconsistency of 
attempting to give a fair cblouring to his proceedings against the Christians, al- 
though his conduct and procedure had wanted even the shadow of appearance, and 
in his very defence, saying what was in fact a reproach to himself. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 395 

ders to each of the judges, that in future none of these should 
behave with severity to the provincials, but rather reclaim them 
to the w^orship of the gods, by exhortation and flattery. Then, 
therefore, whilst, agreeably to my orders, the injunctions were 
observed by the judges, it happened that no one of the countries 
in the east was either banished or insulted, but rather that they 
were reclaimed to the worship of the gods, from the fact that 
nothing severe was done against them. After this, however, 
when a year had passed away, I arrived under fortunate circum- 
stances at Nicomedia, and made my stay there, and citizens of 
that place came to me with the statues of the gods, greatly in- 
treating me, that by all means this people should not be sufiered 
to dwell in their country.* But when I ascertained that many men 
of the same religion dwelt in these parts, I gave them this an- 
swer : That indeed, I cheerfully thanked them for this petition, 
but perceived this was not alike requested by all. K, how- 
ever, there were some that persevered in this superstition, that 
each one had the option to live as he pleased ; even if they wished 
to adopt the worship of the gods. Nevertheless I deemed it ne- 
cessary to give a friendly answer both to the inhabitants of Ni- 
comedia and the other cities, which had so earnestly and zea- 
lously presented the same petition, viz., that not one of the 
Christians should be permitted to dwell in their cities, because 
this same course was observed by all the ancient emperors, and 
was acceptable to the immortal gods, by whom all men and the 
whole administration of the republic subsists, and also, that I 
would confirm this same petition which they had presented for 
the worship of the immortal gods. Wherefore, although there 
have been before this, letters sent to your devotedness, and it 
has in like manner been ordered that the rulers should attempt 
nothing harsh against those provincials that are desirous of ob- 
serving this course, but that they should deal mildly and mode- 
rately with them, nevertheless that they may suffer neither blows 
nor injuries from the beneficiariesf or the other common sol- 

* This is his account of what Eusebius had wittily called " sending an embassy 
to himself." 

j- The beneficiarii were soldiers, who were promoted by the tribunes, and had 



396 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

diers, I deemed it consistent to remind your gravity by these 
letters, that you should cause our provincials to cultivate their 
regard for the gods, rather by exhortations and mild measures. 
Whence if any one should determine to adopt the worship of the 
gods, of his ov^^n accord, it is proper that these should be readily 
received. But if any wish to follow their own worship, you may 
leave these to have their liberty. Wherefore, it is incumbent on 
your devoted zeal to observe what is committed to you, and that 
liberty be granted to no one, to oppress our provincial subjects 
with violence and insult ; whereas, as I wrote before, it is more 
becoming to reclaim our provincials, by encouraging and inviting 
measures, -to the worship of the gods. But that this our will may 
come to the knowledge of all our subjects, it is incumbent on 
you to communicate the mandate by a proclamation issued by 
you." When he had thus commanded these matters, he was 
neither sincere nor credited by any, but was evidently forced 
by necessity, and did not act according to his real sentiments, as 
was obvious from his dupHcity, and perfidy, after the former 
similar grant. No one therefore, of our brethren, ventured to 
hold meetings, nor even to appear in public, because neither was 
this the import of the writing, only enjoining to beware of ha- 
rassing us ; but not commanding that we might hold meetings, 
or build houses of worship, or perform any of those things custo- 
mary with us. And with all this, those advocates of peace and 
piety, Constantino and Licinius, had written to him to permit 
this, and had granted it to all those under them in their edicts 
and ordinances. But this most impious ruler did not choose yield- 
ing to this course; until, driven by the justice of God, he was at 
last compelled, though unwillingly, to adopt it. 

certain privileges. The word, as it here occurs, forms a curious illustration of the 
manner in which Greek words were formed from the Latin, ^BvefiaxKioi. The li- 
quids I and r were frequently interchanged. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 397 

CHAPTER X. 

The victory of the 'pious emperors. 

Such a cause and circumstances, indeed, beset him on all sides. 
Unable as he was to sustain the magnitude of the government so 
undeservedly conferred upon him, in consequence of his own in- 
capacity and deficiency in the qualities of a prudent and imperial 
mind, he administered his affairs in a foolish and disreputable 
manner, and yet foolishly elated in all, with a fulsome arrogance 
and haughtiness, even toward those who participated in the go- 
vernment with him, and who were his superiors both in birth and 
education, dignity and inteUigence, and in that wisdom and that 
true piety which is the crown of all, he yet dared to boast and 
proclaim himself the first of all in dignity and honours. Pro- 
ceeding at length to that degree of madness in his vanity and 
haughtiness, he broke the league that he had made with Licinius, 
and undertook an execrable war. After this he soon threw all 
into confusion ; alarming every city, and collecting innumerable 
armies, he went forth to give him battle, elated with his trust in 
daemons, whom he supposed to be gods, and the vast multitudes 
of his soldiers. Thus engaging in battle, he was deprived of the 
interposition and aid of God ; the victory being decreed in favour 
of the emperor Licinius, by the one only and supreme God. 
And first, he lost the soldiery upon whom he relied so much, and 
as the guards about him all abandoned and left him destitute, and 
deserted to the emperor Licinius, he secretly stripped himself as 
quickly as possible of the imperial robes, which, indeed, he had 
never deserved, in a cowardly, abject, and effeminate manner, 
and mingled with the crowd. Then he made his escape, lying 
concealed in the fields and villages, and with all this caution and 
vigilance for safety, scarcely escaped the hands of the enemy. 
Thus showing in facts the reality and truth of the divine oracles, 
in which it is said : " A king is not saved by the multitude of an 
host, nor shall a giant in the greatness of his strength ; a horse 
is a vain thing for safety, and in the greatness of his strength he 



398 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

shall not be saved. Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those 
that fear him, those that trust in his mercy, to rescue their soul 
from death." 

Thus the tyrant, loaded with disgrace, returned to his own 
parts, and first in the rage of his mind, he slew many priests 
and prophets of those gods whom he admired, and by whose 
oracles he had been induced to undertake the war ; these I say 
he slew, as jugglers and impostors, and above all as the betrayers 
of his own safety. Then, at length giving glory to the God of 
the Christians, he immediately enacted a full and final decree for 
their liberty. However, being seized with a violent disease, he 
died very soon after it was issued. The law enacted was as 
follows. 

Copy of the tyranfs ordinance, in regard to the Christians, trans- 
lated from the Latin into the Greek, 

" The Emperor Caesar, Caius, Valerius, Maximinus, Germani- 
cus, Sarmaticus, Pius, Fehx, Invictus, Augustus, — That it be- 
hoves us by all means, and with constant endeavours to promote 
the good of our provincial subjects, and to wish to bestow upon 
them such things as are best calculated to estabHsh the advan- 
tage of all, and whatever may contribute to their common benefit 
and utility ; also, whatever is adapted to the public advantage, 
and is agreeable to the views and wishes of all ; of this no one 
can be ignorant ; and, moreover, we believe every one can refer 
to past events, and know and convince himself of it. When, 
therefore, before this it was obvious to our mind, that by reason 
of the law which was enacted under our most sacred parents 
Diocletian and Maximian, that the assemblies of the Christians 
should be abolished, many oppressions and spoilations were made 
by those in office, and that this evil advanced daily to a great 
height, to the injury of those of our provincials, for whom we 
are particularly anxious to make the necessary provision; as 
their property and possessions were thus destroyed on this pre- 
text, letters were given to the respective rulers of the provinces 
the past year, in which it was enacted, that if any one wished 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 399 

to follow this practice, or this observance of the same religion, 
that he was at liberty to pursue this his purpose without hin- 
drance, and without obstruction or molestation from any one ; 
and also, that they had full liberty to do that without fear or sus- 
picion, what each one preferred. But even now we could not 
but perceive that some of our judges have mistaken our injunc- 
tions, and caused our subjects to be in doubt as to our ordi- 
nances, and have caused them to proceed with too great reluc- 
tance to the performance of those religious observances which 
they prefer. Now, therefore, that all suspicion of duplicity and 
fear may be removed, we have decreed that this ordinance 
should be published, that all may clearly understand, whosoever 
wish to adopt this sect and worship are at liberty to do so, by 
this privilege granted by us, so that as each one wishes, or as may 
be agreeable to him, thus he may observe that reHgion to which 
he has been accustomed. And, moreover, liberty is granted to 
build their churches. But that this indulgence of ours may be 
the greater, we have also thought proper to make further provision 
by law, that if any houses and lands happened to be justly the 
property of Christians before this, and by order of our parents, 
have been transferred to the treasury, or have been confiscated 
by any city, or at least have been seized and sold or bestowed as 
present to any one, all these possessions we have ordered to be 
returned again to the former possession and control of the Chris- 
tians, that all persons may also, in this respect, have knowledge 
of our piety and foresight." 

These are the declarations of the tyrant, that were issued not 
quite a year after the ordinances against the Christians had 
been pubhshed by him on brazen tablets, and by the same man, 
to whom but a little before, we appeared impious and abandoned 
wretches, destructive of all society, so that we were not allowed 
to dwell, indeed, in a city, or even the country and the desert ; by 
this same one, ordinances and laws were enacted in favour of the 
Christians. And they who a little before were destroyed by the 
tyrants with fire and sword, the food of wild beasts and birds of 
prey in the very eyes of the tyrant, and sustained every kind 
of punishment and torture, and the most miserable death as in- 



400 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

fidels and profane persons, these very same are now acknow- 
ledged by him as worshippers having religion, and are allowed 
to rebuild their churches ; moreover, the tyrant himself confesses 
and testifies that certain rights belong to them. Having, there- 
fore, made these confessions, as if he had actually obtained some 
positive benefit, on this very account, he suffered less than was 
properly his due, and being smitten with a sudden visitation of God, 
he died in the second campaign of the war. But his end was not 
like that of generals and mihtary commanders, who bravely and 
heroically expose their fives, and encounter a glorious death for 
glory and their friends ; but as one hostile to God and religion, 
whilst his army was drawn up for battle in the field, he himself 
remained at home, concealing himself, and received the punish- 
ment that he deserved, being smitten with a sudden judgment of 
God over his whole body ; so that he was harassed by dreadful 
pains and torments, and prostrated on the ground, was wasted 
away by hunger, whilst his whole flesh dissolved by an invisible 
fire and burning, sent from God. So that this being wasted 
away, the whole aspect of his former shape was destroyed, and 
there was only left of him a kind of image, reduced by length of 
time to a skeleton of dry bones. Indeed, all present could regard 
his body as nothing but the tomb of his soul, buried in one that 
was already dead, and completely dissolved. And as the heart 
began to burn still more violently in the very recesses of his 
marrow, his eyes burst forth, and falling from their sockets they 
left him blind. After this he still continued to breathe, ac- 
knowledging many things to the Lord, and invoking death. At 
length, however, after confessing that he justly sufiered these 
judgments for his wanton excesses against the Christians, he 
breathed his last. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 401 

CHAPTER XL 

The total destruction of the enemies of religion. 

Thus, then, Maximinus being removed out of the way, who 
had proved the worst of all the surviving enemies of religion, by 
the goodness of God, the omnipotent ruler, the renovation of the 
churches was begun from the very foundations. But the doc- 
trine of Christ shining forth to the glory of the supreme God, 
enjoyed greater privileges than before, whilst the impious and 
profane were covered with shame and irrecoverable disgrace^ 
First of all, Maximinus himself, b.eing publicly announced by the 
emperors as the public enemy, was confirmed to be the most im- 
pious and detestable, as well as the most hostile to the Deity, by 
his pubhc edicts. And, whatsoever paintings and representations 
had been placed in honour of him or his children, in every city^ 
some were forced dov/n from their elevation, and torn to pieces 
or broken, others were destroyed by having the face daubed 
with black paint. Whatsoever statues, also, had been erected 
to his honour, were likewise cast down and broken, lying exposed 
to the laughter and jests of those that were disposed to insult and 
wantonly abuse them. Then, also, all the honours of the other 
enemies of religion were removed. All that favoured the party 
of Maximinus were slain, especially those that had been distin- 
guished by him with eminent offices, as rulers, for their flattery 
to him, in their insolent excesses against our faith. Of this number 
was Peucetius, the most honoured, and revered, and dearest of all 
his favourites, who had been consul twice and thrice, and had been 
appointed by him prime minister. Culcianus, also, who had been 
promoted through every grade of office, and who was also promi- 
nent for his many slaughters of Christians in Egypt. There were 
also not a few others, by whose agency especially, the tyranny 
of Maximinus had been augmented and confirmed ; justice, also, 
summoned Theotecnus, by no means overlooking the evils he had 
done against the Christians. And whilst he now expected to 
enjoy himself, after he had erected the statue at Antioch, and 

3E 



402 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

was now promoted to the government of a province, Licinius 
came to the city of Antioch, and making a search for all the im- 
postors, he put the prophets and priests of the newly wrought 
statue to the torture, asking at the same time, how they came to 
concoct such a delusion. And when unable by reason of the 
tortures to conceal it any longer, they disclosed that the whole 
secret was a device of Theotecnus. After punishing all according 
to their deserts, he first condemned Theotecnus, and after him all 
the partners of his impostures, to death, with the greatest possible 
torments. To all these were superadded the children of Maxi- 
minus, whom he had already made sharers in the imperial dig- 
nity with his titles and statues. Also, the relatives of the tyrants 
who before this were elated and boasting, and exercising their 
power over all men, had the same punishments, together w^ith 
the utter disgrace of the others, inflicted upon them. As they 
would neither receive instruction nor understand the exhortation 
given in the Holy Scriptures : " Trust not in princes, in the chil- 
dren of men, in whom there is no safety. For his breath goeth 
from him, and he will return to his earth again. In that day all 
their thoughts shall perish." Thus, then, the impious being 
cleared away, the government was deservedly reserved secure, 
and without a rival, for the only two, Constantine and Licinius. 
These, after first removing the hostiUty to God out of the way, 
and sensible of the great benefits conferred on them by his good- 
ness, exhibited both their love of virtue and God, as well as their 
piety and gratitude to Him, by the laws they enacted in favour 
of Christians. 



mm 



BOOK X. 



CHAPTER I. 



The peace which was granted us by divine interposition. 

But thanks be to God, the omnipotent and universal sovereign, 
thanks also to the Saviour and Redeemer of our souls, Jesus 
Christ, through w^hom we pray that peace will be preserved to 
us at all times, firm and unshaken by any temporal molestation 
from without, and troubles from the mind within. Attended 
with your prayers, O most holy Paulinus,* whilst we superadd 
this tenth book to the preceding ones of our ecclesiastical his- 
tory, we shall dedicate this to you, announcing you as the seal 
of the whole work. Justly, indeed, shall we here subjoin in a 
perfect number,-]- a complete discourse and panegyric on the re- 
novation of the churches yielding to the spirit of God, inviting us 
in the following manner : " Sing to the Lord a new song, because 
he hath done wonderful works. His right hand hath saved him, 
and his holy right arm. The Lord hath made known his salva- 
tion, his righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the 
heathen." Thus, then, as the Scriptures enjoin upon us to sing a 
new song, we shall accordingly show that after those dreadful 
and gloomy spectacles and events, we have been privileged to 

* Paulinus was bishop of Tyre, and Eusebius here dedicates the work to him, 
as the one who suggested and urged him to undertake it. 

■\ The number ten is called perfect, because it is the limit and close of our sys- 
tem of numeration ; all the numbers beyond ten being only combinations of this 
and the included digits. Shorting has overlooked the stress which our author in- 
tended to lay on the expression. He has considered it as a mere qualification of 
panegyric. It may be observed, this book contains the celebrated panegyric de- 
livered by Eusebius at the renovation of the cathedral of Tyre. But the author 
seems to intend the whole book as a eulogy upon the happy reverse of affairSj and 
therefore, a happy close of the whole work. He now seems to lay aside the his- 
torian, and to swell into the amplifications of the orator. 

403 




404 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

see such things, and to celebrate such things as many of the 
really pious and martyrs of God, before us ardently craved to 
see, and did not see them, and to hear, and did not hear them. 
But they, indeed, hastening on their course, obtained " what was 
far better ;" being transferred to the heavens themselves, and to 
the paradise of celestial pleasures. But we freely acknowledg- 
ing this state of things in our day as better than what we could 
expect, have been beyond measure astonished at the magnitude 
of the grace manifested by the author of our mercies, and justly 
do we admire and adore him with all the powers of our mind, 
and bear witness to the truth of those declarations recorded, 
where it is said, " come hither and behold the works of God, the 
wonders that he hath done upon the earth ; he removeth wars 
until the ends of the earth, he breaketh the bow and snappeth 
the spear asunder, and burneth the shields in fire." Rejoicing 
in these things fulfilled in our day, we shall pursue the tenor of 
our history. All the race of the enemies of God were destroyed 
in the manner we have stated, and were thus suddenly swept 
away from the sight of men, as the divine Word again declares : 
" I saw the wicked lifted up and exalted like the cedars of Le- 
banon, and I passed by, and lo, he was not ; and I sought, and 
his place was not found." And now a bright and splendid day, 
with no overshadowing cloud, irradiated the churches in the whole 
world with its celestial light ; neither was there any indisposition 
even on the part of those who were strangers to our faith, to 
enjoy with us the same blessings, or of sharing at least in the 
overflowings of these as they were provided from God. 



CHAPTER 11. 

The restoration of the churches. 



All men, then, were liberated from the oppression of the 
tyrant, and those who had been delivered from the miseries pre- 
viously existing, acknowledged, one in one way, and another in 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 406 

another, that the only true God was the protector of the pious. 
To us especially, all whose hopes are suspended on the Christ of 
God, there was an incessant joy, and there sprung up for all a 
certain celestial gladness, seeing every place, which but a short 
time before had been desolated by the impieties of the tyrants, 
reviving again, and recovering as from a long and deadly dis- 
temper, temples again rising from the soil to a lofty height, and 
receiving a splendour far exceeding those that had been formerly 
destroyed. Moreover, those who held the supreme power, con- 
firmed the privileges granted us by the divine beneficence to a 
still wider and greater extent by their constant decrees in favour 
of the Christians, and epistles of the emperor were issued, ad- 
dressed to the bishops, with honours and superadded donations 
of monies. Of which it may not be singular to insert extracts 
in the proper place in this book, as in a certain sacred tablet, as 
we have translated them from the Latin into the Greek language 
that they may remain recorded for those that come after us. 



CHAPTER III. 

The dedications of the churches in all places. 

After this the sight was afforded us so eagerly desired and 
prayed for by all, the festivals of dedications and consecrations 
of the newly erected houses of prayer throughout the cities. 
After this the convention of bishops, the concourse of foreigners 
from abroad, the benevolence of people to people, the unity of 
the members of Christ concurring in one harmonious body. Then 
was it according to the prophetic declaration, mystically indi- 
cating what would take place, " bone was brought to bone, and 
joint to joint," and whatsoever other matters the divine Word 
faithfully intimated before. There was, also, one energy of the 
divine spirit, pervading all the members, and one soul among all, 
one and the same ardour of faith, and one song of praise to the 
Deity. Yea, now indeed, complete and perfect solemnities of 



406 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the prelates and heads of the church, sacred performances of 
sacred rites, and solemn rituals of the church. Here you might 
hear the singing of psalms and the other voices given us from 
God, there divine and sacred mysteries performed. The mystic 
symbols of our Saviour's passion were celebrated, and at the same 
time every sex of every age, male and female, with the whole 
power of the mind, and with a mind and heart rejoicing in prayer 
and thanksgiving, gave glory to God the author of all good. 
Every one of the prelates present, also, delivered panegyric dis- 
courses, desirous of adding lustre to the assembly according to 
the ability of each. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Panegyric on the splendour of our affairs. 

And a certain one* of those of moderate capacity, who had 
composed a discourse, advanced in the midst of the assembly 
where many pastors were present, as in the congregations of 
churches, and whilst all attended in decency and silence, he ad- 
dressed himself as follows, to one who was the best and most 
pious of bishops, and by whose zeal principally the temple in 
Tyre, by far the most noble in Phoenicia, was built. 

Panegyric on the building of the churches, addressed to Paulinus 
bishop of Tyre. 

" Friends, and priest of God, and ye who are clad in the sacred 
gown,t adorned with the celestial crown of glory, the inspired 

* Eusebius here means himself, and addresses the bishop of the church of Tyre. 
We cannot conceive how translators could make our author liere speak of his 
merits, as Valesius and Shorting ; he modestly states merely his moderate quali- 
fications, SiC Tcoi/ i7riii-/.<j}V. 

f The gown here mentioned, derived its name from its extending down to the 

feet : rroiv.p-^. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 407 

unction and the sacerdotal garment of the Holy Spirit. And 
thou, O excellent ornament of this new and holy temple of God, 
endowed by him with the wisdom of age, and yet who hast ex- 
hibited the precious w^orl^ and deeds of youthful and vigorous 
virtue, to whom God himself, who comprehends the universe, has 
granted the distinguished privilege of rebuilding and renewing it 
to Christ, his first begotten and only begotten Word, and to his 
holy and divine spouse ; whether one might call thee a new Be- 
seleel,* the architect of a divine tabernacle, or a Solomon, the 
king of a new and better Jerusalem, or a new Zerubbabel, su- 
peradding a glory to the temple of God, much greater than the 
former. You, also, O nurslings of the flock of Christ, the habi- 
tation of excellent discourses, school of modesty, and the devout 
and religious auditory of piety. Long since, indeed, we were 
allowed the privilege of raising hymns and songs of praise to 
God, when we learned from hearing the sacred Scriptures read, 
the wonderful deeds of God, and the benefits of the Lord con- 
ferred upon men, and whom we were taught to repeat, ' O God, 
we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, the work 
that thou didst in those days, in the days of old.' But now as we 
perceive the lofty arm and the celestial hand of our all-gracious 
and omnipotent God and king, not only by the hearing and the 
report of words, but by deeds ; and, as we may say, with our 
own eyes, as we contemplate those faithful and true declarations 
recorded in times of old, we may raise another song of triumph, 
and exclaim, and appropriately say, * as we have heard, so have 
we seen, in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.' 
And in what city but in this newly built and framed by God ? 
' which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation 
of the truth.' Concerning which another passage of the holy 
Scriptures thus, declares : ' Glorious things are spoken of thee, 
thou city of God ;' into which the all-gracious God having collect- 
ed us by the grace of his only begotten, let each one here as- 
sembled only sing, cry aloud, and say : * I was glad when they 
said unto me, we will go into the house of the Lord ;' and again, 

* The name is written in our version, Bezaleel. Exod. xxxv. 3L 



408 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

* Lord I have loved the beauty of thine house, and the place 
where thine honour dw^elleth.' And not only individually, but 
all together with one breath and one soul, let us with veneration 
exclaim, ' Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised in the city 
of our God, even upon his holy hill.' For he, indeed, is truly 
great, and great is his habitation, sublime, and spacious, and 
comely in beauty beyond the sons of men. * Great is the Lord 
wiio only doeth wonderful things, and things past finding out, 
glorious and stupendous things which cannot be numbered. 
Great is he who" changeth the seasons and times, who setteth up 
and debaseth kings, who raiseth the poor from the ground, and 
exalteth the beggar from the dunghill. He hath thrust down the 
mighty from their seats, and hath exalted the humble from the 
earth. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and hath 
broken in pieces the arms of the proud.' He has confirmed 
the record of ancient events, not only to the faithful, but to the 
unbelievers. ' He that worketh miracles, he that doeth mighty 
deeds ; He, that Lord of the universe, the Creator of the whole 
world, the omnipotent one and only God. In obedience to him 
we ' sing a new song, who alone doeth wonderful things, because 
his mercy endureth for ever; that smiteth mighty kings and 
slayeth strong kings, because his mercy endureth for ever ; for 
the Lord hath remembered us in our humiliation, and hath deli- 
vered us from our enemies.' And may we never cease to cele- 
brate the Father of all wdth these praises. Him also, we would 
extol, and bear his name constantly upon our lips, the second 
cause of our mercies, the instructor in divine knowledge, teacher 
of true religion, destroyer of the impious, slayer of tyrants, the 
reformer of the world, and the Saviour of us when our condition 
was desperate, our Lord Jesus. For he alone as the only all- 
gracious Son of the all-gracious Father, according to the pur- 
pose of his Father's benevolence, readily and freely assuming 
the nature of us who lay prostrate in the depths of destruction, 
like an excellent physician, who, ' for the sake of saving those 
who are labouring under disease, examines their sufferings, han- 
dles their foul ulcers, and from others miseries produces grief 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 409 

and pains to himself.'* has saved us, not only struggling with 
dreadful ulcers, and wounds already putrid, but even lying among 
the dead, and rescued us to himself from the very jaws of death. 
For none of those in heaven had such power at command, as to 
promote the salvation of so many without detriment. But he 
alone, after having reached the deplorable corruption of our race, 
he alone taking upon him our labours, and bearing the punish- 
ment of our iniquities, recovering us, not merely half dead, but 
altogether foetid and offensive, in tombs and sepulchres, both of 
old and new, by his gracious love saves us still beyond the hope 
and expectation of others, and even of ourselves, and liberally 
imparts to us the abundance of his Father's blessings. He, 
the giver of life and of hght, our great Physician, King and Lord, 
the Christ of God. And then, indeed, when the whole human 
race, once lay buried in gloomy night and the depths of dark- 
ness, by the delusions of execrable demons, and the machina- 
tions and influences of malignant spirits, as soon as he appeared, 
as the wax melts under the rays of the sun, he dissolved the knotty 
and entangled bonds of our iniquities, by the rays of his light. 
But when malignant envy and the mischievous spirit of iniquity, 
almost bursting asunder at such a display of grace and benevo- 
lence, was now arraying all his deadly forces against us, and like 
a dog in a fit of madness, first gnashing his teeth at the stones 
cast at him, and pouring his rage kindled by his assailants, against 
inanimate weapons, he levelled his savage ferocity at the stones 
of the oratories and lifeless materials to produce, as he supposed, 
the desolation of the churches. Afterwards, however, he issued 
dreadful hissings and serpentine voices, sometimes by the threats 
of impious tyrants, sometimes by the blasphemous ordinances 
of profane governors ; and moreover, he himself, pouring forth 
death, and infecting the souls captured by him with his pestilen- 
tial and destructive poison, almost destroyed them with the deadly 
sacrifices to dead idols, and caused every sort of beast in the shape 
of man, and every savage, to assault us. Then the Angel of the 

* This is a quotation from some poet, and seems to belong to Sophocles or 
^schylus. The verses in the original are iambics ; but the poem from which 
they are taken is lost. 

3F 



410 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

mighty council, the great Captain and Leader of the armies of 
God, after a sufficient exercise which the greatest of the sol- 
diers of his kingdom had exhibited in their patience and perse- 
verance, again suddenly appeared, and destroying what was 
hostile, and annihilating his foes, so that they scarcely appeared 
to have had a name. But those that were his friends and of 
his household, he advanced not only to glory with all men, but 
now also, with celestial powers, the sun, the moon, and the 
stars, the whole heavens and the world.* So that now what 
never happened before, the supreme sovereigns, sensible of the 
honour conferred upon them by him, now spit upon the faces of 
idols, trample upon the unhallowed rites of dasmons, ridicule 
the ancient delusion of their ancestors, and acknowledge only 
the one and true God, the common benefactor of all and of 
themselves. They also confess Christ the Son of God, as the 
universal king of all, and proclaim him the Saviour in their 
edicts, inscribing his righteous deeds and his victories over the 
impious with royal characters, on indelible records, and in the 
midst of that city which holds the sway over the earth. So that 
our Saviour Jesus Christ, is the only one ever acknowledged, by 
the supreme rulers of the earth, not as a common king among 
men, but worshipped as the true Son of God, and God himself.f 
And all this justly too. For who of kings at any time has ever 
advanced to such a height of excellence, as to fill the ears and 
the tongues of all men with his own name 1 What king ever 
ordained laws so pious and wise, and extended them so as to be 
rekd by all men from the ends of the earth to its remotest bor- 
ders? Who has ever abrogated the fierce and barbarous cus- 
toms of fierce and barbarous nations, by his mild and most 
beneficent laws ? Who is there, when assailed by all for whole 
ages, that has ever exhibited a virtue far surpassing man, so as 
to rise and flourish again from day to day, throughout the whole 
world ? Who is there that has ever established a nation never 

* These expressions, " celestial powers, sun, moon, and stars," may be regarded 
as oriental hyperbole, for the "powers that be." What immediately follows, shows 
that Eusebius means the reigning emperors. 

f The original here is «uto3sov, God himself, or very God. 



ECCLESIASTICAL fflSTORY. 411 

heard of before, not concealed in a corner of the earth, but 
spread over every part of it under the sun ? Who has so forti- 
fied his soldiers with the arms of piety, that their souls more 
firm than adamant, shine resplendent in the contest against their 
antagonists 1 What king ever prevailed to such an extent, as to 
lead on his armies after death, rear trophies against his enemies, 
and fill every place and city and region, whether Grecian or bar- 
barian, with his royal palaces and the consecrations of his sacred 
temples ? Witness the splendid ornaments and donations of this 
very temple, which themselves are noble and truly grand, wor- 
thy of admiration and astonishment, and expressive symbols of 
our Saviour's kingdom. Truly ' he hath spoken, and they were 
made ; he hath commanded, and they were created.' For what 
was there to resist the beck of the universal King, the universal 
Prince, and God, the Word himself* It would require a pecu- 
liar leisure to survey and explain each particidar minutely ; and 
not only this, but to explain how great and powerful the alacrity 
of those who have laboured in the work, has been judged by 
him whom we celebrate, who looks into the temple within our 
souls, and surveys the building of living and moving stones, hap- 
pily and securely built upon the foundation of the apostles and 
prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. 
Whom, indeed, not only those of that ancient building no longer 
existing, have rejected ; but also, those of the building now ex- 
isting, that vast multitude of men, wretched architects of the 
wicked as they are.f But the Father having proved him now 
as well as then, has established him as the head of the corner of 
this our common church. This, therefore, the living temple of 
the living God, formed of yourselves, I say, is the greatest and 
the truly divine sanctuary, whose inmost shrines, though invisible 
to the multitude, are really holy, a holy of holies. Who, when 
he has viewed it within, would venture to declare it ? But who 
could ever penetrate its sacred enclosures, save only the great 

* The expression here, is «utou Gecu xo^ou. 

■}■ Eusebius here alludes to the two dispensations, Jevsrish and Christian. The 
former building had passed away ; the latter now existing, was still rejected by the 
multitude of the heathen world. 



412 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

High Priest of all, who alone has the right and power to search 
out the mysteries of every human and rational soul % Next to 
him, however, the second place* immediately devolves on one 
alone of his equals, the presiding prelate and leader of this host, 
who has been honoured by the first and great High Priest himself 
with the second rank in this sanctuary, and has been appointed 
by him as his courtier and interpreter, and the shepherd of your 
spiritual (divine) flock, obtaining this people of 5^ours as his por 
tion by the judgment and allotment of the Father ; a new Aaron 
or another Melchisedech assimilated to the Son of God, continu- 
ing and always preserved by him in accordance with the com- 
mon wishes and prayers of you all. To him, therefore, alone, 
let it be granted, if not in the first place, at least in the second, 
after the first and supreme High Priest, to inspect and superintend 
the observation and state of your inmost souls. As he by expe- 
rience and length of time has diligently examined each one, and 
by his zeal and care has disposed all of you to cultivate the order 
and doctrine of piety ; capable, also, as he is above all, to give 
reasons adequate to the works which he himself with the divine 
assistance has framed. Our first and great High Priest, saith the 
Scripture, ' whatsoever He seeth the Father doing, these things 
also doeth the Son ;' and whatsoever hef seeth Him doing, using 
these things as archetypes and examples, their images and re- 
semblances, he has as far as possible expressed, after the most 
perfect likeness in his own works. In no respect inferior to that 
Beseleel, whom the Spirit of God himself filled with wisdom, and 
understanding, and whatever other knowledge and skill might be 

* A scholiast on this expression, makes the remark x«< t«uto ko-s/Ss?. Valesius 
videtur existimavisse scholiastem hie Eusebium quasi de Christo loquentem in- 
tellexisse. Sed vir doctus hoc errare videtur. Scholiastes Eusebium hie impie- 
tatis arguit quod, episcopo secundum gradum dignitatis a Christo attribuere ausus 
est, et Valesius ipse dicit in loc. ; " fatendum est Eusebium nimis hie tribuisse 
Paulino, dum ei ra .c-^ Sivrsfxiu., tanquam sequali et collegae Christi adscribit; 
dum Mclchisedecum vocat." Attamen si haec excusanda sint, eo nomine fortassis 
excusari possint, quod Eusebius noster hie oratorem, (prope dixissem poetam) 
magis quara theologum egisse, videtur. Quis nescit orientalium ingenii ardorem 
qui ssepe extra omnes rerum fines excurritl 

t He, refers to Paulinus, looking as it were to Christ. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 413 

necessary, for the building of that temple* appointed and selected 
as the builder of that edifice of a temple of celestial types, a 
temple given in symbols and figures. Thus, also, he has framed 
and fashioned the whole Christ complete, the word, the wisdom, 
the light, and bearing in his own soul the image of the same, 
it is impossible to tell with what joy and gladness, with what an 
abundant and liberal mind, and with what emulation among all 
of you, and what magnanimity among the contributors, ambi- 
tiously striving that none should be behind him in executing the 
same purpose, he has framed and finished this magnificent and 
noble temple of God, so similar in its character to the copy of 
that better temple, the visible of the invisible. And what also 
deserves first of all to be mentioned, he did not overlook this 
place, which had been covered with filth and rubbish, by the ar- 
tifices of our enemies ; but could not think of giving w^ay to the 
wickedness of those who were the authors of it, though he was 
at liberty to go to another place, there being innumerable others 
in the city ; and thus to find a diminution of his labour, and to be 
relieved from trouble. First, he prepared himself for the work. 
Then, also, after strengthening and animating the people, and 
forming all into one great body, he performed this, the first of 
his labours.f Thinking that the church which had been most 
assailed by the enemy, she that had first laboured in trials, and 
that had sustained the same persecutions with us and before us — 
this church, Hke a mother bereft of her children, should also enjoy 
with us the mercies and privileges of the all-gracious Giver. 
For when the great Shepherd had driven away the wild beasts, 
the wolves, and every fierce and savage race, and, in the lan- 
guage of Scripture, had broken the jaws of the lions, he again 
condescended to collect her children, and in the most righteous 
manner he raised the fold of her flock, " to shame the enemy and 
the avenger :" and to present a refutation against the impious 
audacity of those that were fighting against God. And now 

* Our author calls the tabernacle here, by a metonymy, the temple. 

■f The original is aS;\.oi/ -xiywvi^ETo, a gladiatorial phrase applied to combatants and 
wrestlers, and referring to the labours of Hercules, particularly that of cleansing 
the Auffean stable. 



414 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

these enemies of God are no more, because they never were.* 
For a short time, indeed, they created alarm, whilst themselves 
were troubled ; then suffering the severe punishment which they 
owed to divine justice, they overturned themselves, and friends, 
and habitations to the dust. So that it is confessed those decla- 
rations inscribed of old on the sacred tablets, are proved as true 
by facts, in which the divine Word, among others, also asserts 
the following concerning them : ' The ungodly have drawn out 
the sword, they have bent the bow to cast down the poor and 
needy, and to slay such as are of an upright walk. Their sword 
shall pierce through their own heart, and their bows shall be 
broken.' And, again, ' Their memory is perished with a sound, 
and their name hast thou blotted out for ever and ever. Because 
when they were in miseries they cried, and there was none to 
save, even to the Lord, and he heard them not. They were 
boundf and fell, but we are raised and stand upright' 

" That, too, which was declared before, in the following words, 
* O Lord, thou shalt annihilate their image in thy city,' is truly 
manifested to the eyes of all. But after waging a war against 
God, like the giants, they terminated their lives in this manner ; 
whilst she " which was desolate, and rejected of men," has re- 
ceived that consummation that we have seen, for her patient en- 
durance in God, so that the prophecy of Isaiah seemed to utter 
these things ; ' Rejoice, thirsty desert, let the desert exult and 
blossom as the lily, and the desert places shall flourish and be 

* This expression seems to have been misapprehended by "Valesius and Shorting. 
It simply expresses the utter nothingness of the enemies of God. No expression 
could represent human weakness in a stronger light when arrayed against Omni- 
potence. It is scarcely hyperbolical to say such poiver never -was. The com- 
pound word ^£0^.0-5.5, may mean either hated of God, or God haters, according as 
the accent is on the ultimate or penultimate. Valesius reads with the accent on 
the last syllable, which would justify his rendering ijivisi Deo. Besides, our au- 
thor is fond of antithesis, particularly if aided by alliteration. He had called them 
bioiM»%r>i, now -SreoA^.o-i.;. We havc given the most comprehensive sense ; as men, in 
the order of Providence, are always God haters before they can be pronounced 
God hated. 

\ It will be recollected, we translate these passages from our author, who quotes 
the Septuagint. The Greek here means their feet ivere bound together. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 415 

glad. Be strengthened, ye languid hands, and ye relaxed knees. 
Be consoled, ye weak hearted in your minds, be strong and fear 
not. Behold our God has repaid judgnnent, and he 'will repay. 
He will come and save us. For he says, water has burst forth 
in the desert, and a pool in a thirsty land. And the dry land 
shall become a pool, and a well of water shall be in the thirsty 
land.' These things, uttered in ancient oracles, have been re- 
corded in the sacred books. But, now, these things, themselves, 
are no longer addressed to us in mere reports, but in facts, 

" This desert, this dry and thirsty land ;" this widow and 
deserted one, whose gates they cut down with axes, as wood in 
the forest, breaking them down with the ax and the hatchet, 
whose books they destroyed, and whose divine sanctuary they 
burned with fire, whilst they profaned the habitation of his name 
unto the ground, and all that passed by plucked off her grapes, 
breaking down her hedges; she, whom the wild boar of the 
forest has rooted up, and the savage wild beast has devoured, 
now, by the marvellous power of Christ, as he himself would 
have it, has blossomed as the lily. But, even then, she was 
chastened at his nod, as by a provident father : ' For whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he 
receiveth.' Then, after being chastened in measure, as far as 
was necessary, she was commanded to rejoice of anew ; and she 
now blossoms as the lily, and exhales her divine odour among all 
men. For it is said, * Water gushed forth in the desert the 
fountain of divine regeneration of the salutary laver. And now 
she, which a little before was desolate, is changed into pools, and 
a well of living water has gushed out upon a thirsty land.' 
The arms formerly languid have become truly strong, and these 
works are the great and expressive displays of invigorated hands. 
Those knees, also, that were formerly debihtated and relaxed, 
now recovering their former firmness, are walking in a straight 
course on their way, and hastening on to their proper fold of the 
all-gracious pastor. And are there, also, some that were alarmed 
and overawed by the threats of the tyrants, not even these have 
been overlooked as mcurable by the Saviour's word, but he, 
thoroughly healing likewise them, raises them to receive conso» 



416 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

lation, as he says, * Be ye comforted, ye dejected in mind, be 
strong, fear not' 

" This our new and excellent Zerubbabel, then perceiving by 
the acute hearing of his mind, the sacred oracles declaring that 
she who had been desolate for the sake of her God, should now 
enjoy such things as these, after her severe captivity, and the 
abomination of desolation, did not neglect this dead carcase. 
First of all with prayers and supplications, he propitiated the 
Father with the common consent and concurrence of you all, and 
calling upon the only one who can raise from the dead, as his 
aid and ally, he raised her, who had fallen, after he had cleansed 
and healed her from her ills. He cast around her, not the gar- 
ment of old, but such as he had again learned from the sacred 
oracles, clearly declaring : ' And the glory of this latter house 
shall far exceed the former.' Thus, then, embracing a much 
wider space, he strengthened the outer enclosure with a wall to 
compass the edifice, that it might be a most secure bulwark to 
the whole work. Then raising a large and lofty vestibule, he 
extended it towards the rays of the rising sun ; presenting even 
to those standing without the sanctuary, a full view of those 
within, all but turning the eyes of those who are strangers to 
the faith, to contemplate its entrance ; so that no one can pass 
by, without being struck in his mind at the recollection of the 
former desolation, and the present wonderful transformation. By 
this, indeed, he also hoped that the individual thus smitten would 
be attracted by the very sight, and induced to enter. And on 
entering within the gates, he has not permitted you to enter im- 
mediately, with impure and unwashed feet, within the sanctuary, 
but leaving an extensive space betw^een the temple, (the nave) 
and the vestibule, he has decorated and enclosed it with four in- 
clined porticoes around, presenting a quadrangular space, with 
pillars rising on every side. Between these he carried round the 
frame latticed railing, rising to a proportioned and suitable height, 
leaving, however, the middle space open, so that the heavens can 
be seen, and present the splendid sky irradiated by the beams 
of the sun. Here too, he has placed the symbols of the sacred 
purification::,^ by providing fountains built opposite the temple, 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 417 

(nave) which, by the abundant effusion of its waters, afibrds the 
means of cleansing, to those that proceed to the inner parts of 
the sanctuary. And this is the first place that receives those 
that enter, and which at the same time presents to those that 
need the first introduction, both a splendid and a convenient sta- 
tion. After passing also this sight, he has made open entrances 
to the temple, with many other inner vestibules, by placing again 
three gates on one side towards the rising sun. Of these he con- 
structed the midde one, far exceeding those on each side in 
height and breadth, embeUishing it at the same time with ex- 
ceedingly splendid brazen plates bound with iron, and decorated 
with various sculpture, superadding them as guards and attend- 
ants to a queen. In the same way, after disposing the number 
of the vestibules, also with the porticoes on each side of the 
whole temple, he constructed above these, different openings to 
the building for the purpose of admitting more light, and these 
lights or windows he also decorated with various kinds of orna- 
mental sculpture. But the royal temple itself, he has furnished 
with more splendid and rich materials, applying a generous libe- 
rahty in his expenses. And here, it appears to me to be super- 
fluous, to describe the dimensions, the length and the breadth of 
the edifice, the splendid elegance, the grandeur that surpasses 
description, and the dazzling aspect of works, glittering in the 
face of the speaker, the heights rising to the heavens, and the 
costly cedars of Lebanon resting on these, which have not been 
overlooked by the divine oracles themselves, when they say: 
* The forests of the Lord shall rejoice, and the cedars of Lebanon 
which he planted.' Why should I now detail minutely the skil- 
ful architectural arrangement, and the exceeding beauty of each 
of the parts, when the testimony of the eye precludes the instruc- 
tion through the ear. 

" For when he had thus completed the temple, he also adorned 
it with lofty thrones, in honour of those who preside, and also 
with seats decently arranged in order throughout the whole, and 
at last placed the holy altar in the middle. And that this again 
might be inaccessible to the multitude, he enclosed it with frame 
lattice work, accurately wrought with ingenious sculpture, pre- 

3G 



418 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

senting an admirable sight to the beholders. And not even the 
pavement was neglected by him, for this, too, he splendidly- 
adorned with marble, and then proceeded to the rest, and to the 
parts out of the temple. He provided spacious exhedrae and 
oeci * on each side, united and attached to the cathedral (palace), 
and communicating with the entrances to the middle of the tem- 
ple. Which buildings were erected by this our most peaceful 
Solomon,t the founder of the temple, for those who require yet 
the purification and the sprinklings of water and the holy Spirit. 
So that the prophecy repeated above, seems to consist no longer 
in words, but in facts and deeds : ' For the glory of this latter 
house is truly far beyond the former.' 

" For it was just and consistent, that as her (the church) pas- 
tor and Lord had once submitted to death on her account, and 
after his suffering had changed that vile body, which he assumed 
for her sake, into a splendid and glorious body, and had conduct- 
ed the flesh that had been dissolved from corruption into incor- 
ruption, that she should likewise enjoy these dispensationsj of our 
Saviour ; because, having received a promise of far better things 
from him, the far greater glory of a regeneration, in the resurrec- 
tion of an incorruptible body, with the choir of the angels of light, 
in the very celestial palace of God ; above all these, she desires 
also to obtain them with Christ Jesus himself, her all-gracious 
benefactor and Saviour hereafter for ever. In the mean time, 



* The exhedrse and oeei were vestry-rooms on each side of the cathedral, and 
connected with it. On each side of the edifice there was a lon^ passage to the 
body or nave of the building, and these exhedrse and oeci were in the same right 
line, and communicated with them by doors. They were also baptisteries, consis- 
tories, and, in general, places intended for the various subordinate purposes of the 
church. See Valesius's note on Book III. De Vit. Const, ch. 1. Also, Bingham's 
Orig. 

■}- Eusebius takes occasion to compliment the bishop on his resemblance to the 
royal founder of the Jewish temple, in the similar capacity which he had here sus- 
tained. In this resemblance, he also alludes to the signification of Solomon's name, 
peaceful. 

i The word o.xovo^<«, here occurring, is used by our author in the comprehensive 
sense, for whatever our Saviour did for our salvation. Here it is evidently applied 
not only to the death but the resurrection of our Lord. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 419 

however, in the present world, she that was formerly a widow 
and desolate, and now decorated with the flowers of divine grace, 
has truly become as the lily, as the prophecy declares, and re- 
ceiving the bridal garment, and covered with the crown of glory, 
as she is taught to exult and dance by the prophet Isaiah, pro- 
claims her gratitude in joyous language to God her king. Let 
us hear her own words : * I will greatly rejoice in the I..ord, my 
soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with the 
garment of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of 
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, 
and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. For as the earth 
bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things sown 
in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and 
praise to spring forth before all the nations.' Thus, singing, she 
exults and dances. 

" In the same words, also, that celestial spouse and word, Jesus 
Christ, himself answers her ; Hear the Lord, saying, * Fear not 
because thou wast abased, neither be thou confounded, that thou 
was put to shame. For thou shalt forget thy past shame of old, 
and shalt not remember the shame of thy widowhood any more. 
The Lord hath not called thee as a woman deserted and dejected, 
neither as a woman hated from her youth, saith thy God. For 
a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercy will 
I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a 
moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, 
saith the Lord thy Redeemer.' ' Awake, awake, thou that hast 
drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury, thou hast 
drunk the dregs and exhausted them. There was none to con- 
sole thee of aU the sons thou didst bring forth, neither was there 
any to take thee by the hand. Behold, I have taken out of thine 
hand the cup of stumbling, the cup of my fury, and thou shalt 
no more drink it again. But I will put it into the hand of them 
that afflict thee, and that have humbled thee.' ' Awake, awake, 
put on thy strength, put on thy glory, shake off the dust, and 
arise and sit down, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck. 
Lift up thine eyes round about thee, and behold thy children are 
gathered together. Behold they are gathered and come to thee. 



420 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt clothe thyself with them all 
as with an ornament, and thou shalt bind them on thee as orna 
ments on a bride. For thy waste and desolate places, and the 
land of thy destruction, shall now be too narrow by reason of the 
inhabitants, and they that would swallow thee up shall be far 
away. The children which thou hast lost shall say in thine ears : 
* The place is narrow for me, give place to me that I may dwell.' 
Then shalt thou say in thine heart. Who hath begotten me these ? 
seeing I have lost my children and am a widow ? and who hath 
brought up these. Behold, I was left alone. But these, where 
had they been V 

" Such were the oracles uttered before by Isaiah. These were 
the declarations respecting us anciently, recorded in the holy 
Scriptures. It was just, therefore, 'that we should at some time 
receive their truth in the facts themselves. Since then the 
spouse and word addressed such language as this to the holy 
church before ; justly, therefore, has this our bride-man (bride- 
dresser,*) raised her lying desolate, and as a dead carcase, hope- 
less in the sight of men, and with the common prayers of you 
all, stretched out his hands, raised her up, and at the command 
of God, the sovereign king, and in the manifestation of the 
powers of Christ Jesus, caused her to stand upright. And 
when thus raised, he so ordered and established her, as he had 
learned from the description given by the sacred oracles. Won- 
derful and mighty, therefore, and beyond all admiration is this 
work, especially to those who attend only to the external appear- 
ance. But more wonderful than wonders are those archetypes, 
the mental prototypes and divine exemplars, the renewals of the 
divine and spiritual buildings in our souls, which he, the Son of 
God himself, framed and fashioned according to his own image, 
and to which every where and in all respects he imparted the 
likeness of God. An incorruptible nature, incorporeal, reason- 
able, separate from all earthly mixture and matter, an intelli- 
gent existence. And having once created herf and brought her 

* vvfA<^oiroxag here, applied to Paulinus. 

f Our author means the spiritual church of which he had just spoken, using a per- 
sonification in the pronoun her, as common with the Christian fathers as it is with us 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 421 

into being from that which was not, he also wrought her into a 
holy spouse, a completely sacred and holy temple, for himself and 
the Father. Which, indeed, himself plainly declares and professes 
in the following words : ' I will dwell in them and walk in them, and 
will be their God and they shall be my people.' And such, indeed, 
is the perfect and purified mind, having been made such from the 
beginning, as to bear the image of the celestial Word. By the 
envy and jealousy of the malignant daemon, however, she began to 
be fond of pleasures and fond of evil, by her own voluntary choice, 
and then the Divinity retiring from her, as one destitute of her 
protector, she became an easy captive, and easily exposed to the 
insidious plots of those who had long envied her felicity. And 
thus assailed by the batteries and machines of her invisible and 
spiritual enemies, she fell a hideous carcase. So that there was 
not one stone of her virtue remained standing, and she lay com- 
pletely and entirely dead upon the earth, totally stripped and 
destitute of her usual and natural ideas of God. But as she 
thus lay fallen and prostrate, she that had been made after the 
image of God, it was not that wild boar of the forest that we see, 
but some destructive daemon and spiritual wild beasts that laid 
her waste. These, inflaming her with passions, as with the burn- 
ing darts of their own iniquity, set fire to the really divine sanc- 
tuary of God, and profaned the tabernacle of his name to the 
ground. Then burying the unhappy one with heaps of earth, 
they totally destroyed every hope of her deliverance. But the 
divine and saving Word, who careth for her, after she had en- 
dured the deserved punishment of her sins, again recovered and 
restored her to the full confidence of the all-gracious mercy of 
the Father. First, then, she gained the favour of the supreme 
imperial rulers themselves, and with the whole world, was de- 
livered from the impious tyrants, those destructive and tremen- 
dous enemies of all, by the intervention of those most excellent 
and divinely favoured princes. Then also, the men who were his 
(Christ's) familiar friends, those formerly consecrated to him for 
life, and who, concealed as in a storm of afflictions, had neverthe- 
less been secretly protected by their God ; these were led forth 
by him to the light and honoured, deservedly by the munificence 



422 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

of his spirit. Again, then, by means of these he cleansed and 
removed the filth of the souls who a Httle before had been pol- 
luted, and with the spades and mattocks, the reproving doctrines 
of the divine word, he removed all the accumulated matter of im- 
pious commands.* And thus when he had made the ground of 
your mind clear and bright, then he committed it for the future 
to this f most wise and divinely favoured guide. He, as in other 
respects, endowed with singular judgment and prudence, well 
capable of discriminating and discerning the minds of those com- 
mitted to his charge, from the first day that he began to build, as I 
may say, has not ceased to the present. In one place he applied 
the splendid gold, in another, the refined and pure silver, and the 
valuable and precious stonesj among all, so that a sacred and 
mystic prophecy is again fulfilled by facts displayed in you, when 
it is said, ' Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair carbuncles, and 
lay thy foundations with sapphires, and thy bulwarks of jasper 
stone, and thy gates with crystal, and thy walls with chosen stones, 
and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall 
be the peace of thy children, and thou shalt be built in right- 
eousness,' 

^' Building therefore, in righteousness, he divided the strength and 
means of the w^hole people, according to a due estimate. With 
some § indeed, he surrounded only the exterior inclosure, walling 
it up with an unwavering faith. For such is the great multitude 
and mass of the people, that they are incapable of bearing any 
superior structure. But allowing others|| the entrance into the 
edifice, he directs them to stand at the doors, and to conduct 
those that are entering, who not improperly are compared to 

* Alluding to the measures pursued by Maximinus and his governors. 

■j- PauUnus, the bishop. 

t An allusion to 1 Cor. iii. 12., in which our author plainly understands by the 
gold, silver, precious stones, &c., the different members, as the materials that con- 
stituted the moral and spiritual structure. 

§ Eusebius now gives an allegorical description of the spiritual temple at Tyre, 
in which he also gives the different grades of religious attainment. 

II By these are meant the sub-deacons, whose office was to conduct all that en- 
tered to their proper places, the catechumens, penitents, into the narthex or hall, 
the faithful, &c. into the nave. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 423 

the vestibules of the temple. Others, however, he has supported 
by the first pillars which are placed vdthout, around the qua- 
drangular hall, by initiating them in the first elements of the lite- 
ral sense of the four gospels. Then he also stations around, on 
both sides the royal temple, those who are yet catechumens,* 
and that are yet making progress, and improvement, though not 
very far separated from the inmost view of divine things, enjoyed 
by the faithful. Receiving from among these, the souls that are 
cleansed like gold, by the divine washing, he likewise supports 
and strengthens these, with columns far better than those exter- 
nal ones, viz., by the inner mysteries and hidden doctrines of the 
Scriptures. He also illuminates them by the openings, to admit 
the fight, adorning the whole temple with one grand vestibule 
of adoration to the one only God, the universal Sovereign. Ex- 
hibiting, however, as the second splendour, the light of Christ, and 
the Holy Spirit on each side of the Father's authority ,f and dis- 
playing in the rest, throughout the whole of the building, the 
abundance and the exceeding great excellence of the clearness 
and the brilHancy of truth in every part. Having also selected 
every where, and from every quarter, the living and moving, and 
well prepared stones of the mind, he has built a grand and truly 
royal edifice of all, splendid and filled with light within and with- 

* Eusebius here gives the diiFerent classes, into which the people were divided 
previous to a full admission. The first, the indiscriminate multitude, compared to 
the outer wall ; the second, the catechumens, or those who by a course of instruc- 
tion were preparing ; and finally, those that were called the competentes, or the can- 
didates for baptism. 

+ That the learned reader may have a comment on these words, we here trans- 
cribe the words of a schoUast, found in the Mazarine manuscript, used by Valesius, 

and appended to the passage: uvS^jitts, t» o-oi tuv lUesz^Mi/ TSuraj)/ xxi 7ravy,yvpix.'jiv Xaynv 
c^iKoi; ; >i TJ xspS'oj <ro< too sreevToj touJ* fi)«X03-oy(j/ta;ros x«< (ruvT«y,MaTOj, cm^, c^on^ov cof 
'opaj Tov uiov Tu) jrarpi, outs (jlviv to Trvsvfix to ayiov (rvvstgx-yovn. ThoSC that wlsh tO 

read the passage will find it quoted at length by Valesius, in loc. This, however, 
is not the only passage where the schoUasts have given utterance to what they no 
doubt conceived to be a just indignation. Sic non veriti sunt Eusebium nostrum, 
impium, blasphemum, atheum, schoUis suis nominare omniaque epitheta, quae ipse in 
tyrannos conjicere solebat, schohast® iterum in ipsvim quasi hostem religiones con- 
jecerimt. Sed pace illorum qui aUter sentiunt, hae locutiones Eusebians proculdu- 
bio, secundum quid vel x»t» t<, ut dicitur inschoUs, intelhgendae sunt. Quis nescit. 



424 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

out. For it is resplendent not only in soul and mind, but the body 
also is brilliant with the blooming ornaments of chastity and 
modesty. But in this temple there are also thrones, many seats 
also, and benches, in all the souls in which the gifts of the Holy 
Spirit reside, such as anciently were seen in the holy apostles 
and their followers, to whom cloven tongues, as of fire, appeared, 
and sat upon each one of them. But in the chief of all, Christ 
himself perhaps resides in his fulness. In those that rank next 
to him, each one shares proportionately in the distribution of the 
power of Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There may also be seats 
for angels in the souls of some who are committed to the instruc- 
tion and care of each. Noble and grand also, and unique is 
the altar, such as should be at least, that sincerity and Holy of 
Holies, of the mind and spirit of the priest of the whole congre- 
gation. That great High Priest of the universe, Jesus, the only 
begotten Son of God, himself standing at his right, receives the 
sweet incense from all, and the bloodless and immaterial sacri- 
fices of prayer, with a bright and benign eye ; and with extended 
hands, bears them to the Father of heaven and God over all. He 
himself, first adoring him, and the only one that gives to the Father 
the worship that is his due, and then interceding with Him for us, 
that he may always continue propitious and favourable to us all. 
" Such is the character of this great temple, which the great 
creative Word hath established, throughout the whole world, 
constituting this again a kind of intellectual image on earth of 
those things beyond the vault of heaven. So that in all his crea- 
tion, and through all his intelligent creatures on earth, the Father 
should be honoured and adored.* But those regionsf beyond the 

Dominum et Servatorem nostrum x«t-« t« seipsum, Pafre minorem, et x«t« tj, fte- 
rum seipsum et Patreyn unum dicit. Et si locutiones hujuscemodi, blasphemiam 
vel heterodoxiam sapiunt, quis sapit recte 1 

* The Greek reads thus: o nar^ip avrw (xoyui) nuuiro re xxi <rs/3o.To. Valesius vertit 
"Pater ipsius" quasi aurw pro «utou sed potius videtur indicare agentem. Versione 
nostra liic non redditur quia lector communis titubet nee versione Valesii assentire 
possumus. Qui nexum sententiarum penitus inspexerit facile videbit Eusebium, 
hie filium Dei quasi curatorem adorationis Patris innuere. 

■J- Our orator, now drawing to a close, winds up his survey of the temple on 
©axth, by an apostrophe to the transcendant glory of the church triumphant. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 425 

heavens, are also displays of what are here, and that Jerusalem 
above, and that heavenly Sion, and that city of the living God 
beyond our earth, in which are the innumerable choirs of angels 
and the assembly of the first born written in heaven, extol their 
Maker and the universal Sovereign of all, with praises and hymns 
inexpressible. These surpass our comprehension, neither would 
any mortal tongue be adequate to declare that glory. * For eye 
hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered 
into the heart of man to conceive those things which God hath 
prepared for those that love him.' Of which things as we are 
already made partakers in part, let us never cease, men, women 
and children, small and great, all collectively at once, and with 
one breath, and one mind, to proclaim and to celebrate the author 
of such great mercies to us. ' Who forgiveth all our sins, and 
healeth all our infirmities, who redeemeth our life from destruc- 
tion, and crowneth us with lovingkindness, who filleth our soul 
with good things. For he hath not dealt with us according to 
our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as far 
as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities 
from us. As a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him.' Rekindling such views now, and for all fu- 
ture times, in our minds, and beside the present festivity, and this 
illustrious and most glorious day, contemplating God as its author, 
and the universal author of all festivity, night and day, in every 
hour and with every breath that we draw, let us love and adore 
Him with all the powers of the soul. And now rising, with the 
most earnest expression of our love and devotion, let us beseech 
Him, that he would continue to shelter and save us as those of his 
flock until the end, and grant us his peace for ever, inviolate and 
immoveable, in Jestis Christ our Saviour, through whom the glory- 
be to Him through all ages. Amen." 



3H 



426 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

CHAPTER V. 

Copies of the imperial decrees. 

Now let us also, subjoin translations from the Latin, of the 
imperial ordinances of Constantine and Licinius. 

Copy of the imperial ordinances, translated from the Latin 
language. 

" As we long since perceived that religious liberty should not 
be denied, but that it should be granted to the opinion and wishes 
of each one to perform divine duties according to his own deter- 
mination, we had given orders, that each one, and the Christians 
among the rest, have the liberty to observe the religion of his 
choice, and his peculiar mode of worship. But as there plainly 
appeared to be many and different sects added in that edict,* in 
which this privilege was granted them, some of them perhaps, 
after a little while, on this account shrunk from this kind of at- 
tention and observance. Wherefore, as I, Constantine Augustus, 
and I, Licinius Augustus, came under favourable auspices to 
Milan, and took under consideration all affairs that pertained 
to the public benefit and welfare, these things among the rest 
appeared to us to be most advantageous and profitable to all. 
We have resolved among the first things to ordain, those matters 
by which reverence and worship to the Deity might be exhibited. 
That is how we may grant likewise to the Christians, and to all, 
the free choice to follow that mode of worship which they may 
wish. That whatsoever divinity and celestial power may exist, 
may be propitious to us and to all that live under our government. 

* The edict here mentioned is lost, and the reference is, therefore, subject to 
some obscurity. The Latin original, however, of this one is preserved by Lanc- 
tantius, in his book " De Mortibus Persecutorum," beginning at the words, 
" Wherefore, as I, Constantine." Valesius here, as well as in the other edicts, 
has no reference to Lanctantius. The Greek translation is in the main so faithful 
as to transfer the Latinity ; the text, however, still preserved in Lanctantius, dif- 
fers in some places from that which Eusebius appears to have had. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 427 

Therefore, we have decreed the following ordinance, as our 
will, with a salutary and most correct intention, that no freedom 
at all shall be refused to Christians, to follow or to keep their ob 
servances or worship. But that to each one power be granted 
to devote his mind to that worship which he may think adapted 
to himself That the Deity may in all things exhibit to us his 
accustomed favour and kindness. It was just and consistent that 
we should write that this was our pleasure. That all exceptions 
respecting the Christians being completely removed, which were 
contained in the former epistle, that we sent to your fidelity, and 
whatever measures were wholly sinister and foreign to our mild- 
ness, that these should be altogether annulled ; and now that each 
one of the Christians may freely and without molestation, pur- 
sue and follow that course and worship which he has proposed 
to himself: which, indeed, we have resolved to communicate 
most fully to your care, and diligence, that you may know we 
have granted liberty and full freedom to the Christians, to ob- 
serve their own mode of worship ; which as your fidelity under- 
stands absolutely granted to them by us, the privilege is also 
granted to others to pursue that worsjiip and religion they wish. 
Which it is obvious is consistent with the peace and tranquillity 
of our times ; that each may have the privilege to select and 
to worship whatsoever divinity he pleases. But this has been 
done by us, that we might not appear in any manner to detract 
any thing from any manner of rehgion, or any mode of worship. 
And this, we further decree, with respect to the Christians, that 
the places in which they were formerly accustomed to assemble, 
concerning which also we formerly wrote to your fidelity, in a 
different form, that if any persons have purchased these, either 
from our treasury, or from any other one, these shall restore 
them to the Christians, without money and without demanding 
any price, without any superadded value, or augmentation, with- 
out delay, or hesitancy. And if any have happened to receive 
these places as presents, that they shall restore them as soon as 
possible to the Christians, so that if either those that purchased or 
those that received them as presents, have any thing to request 
of our munificence, they may go to the provincial governor, as 



1 



428 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

the judge; that provision may also be made for them by our 
clemency. All which, it will be necessary to be delivered up 
to the body of Christians, by your care, without any delay. And 
since the Christians themselves are known to have had not only 
those places where they were accustomed to meet, but other 
places also, belonging not to individuals among them, but to the 
right of the whole body of Christians, you will also command all 
these, by virtue of the law before mentioned, without any hesi- 
tancy, to be restored to these same Christians, that is to their 
body, and to each conventicle respectively. The aforesaid con- 
sideration, to wit, being observed ; namely, that they who as we 
have said restore them without valuation and price, may expect 
their indemnity from our munificence and liberality. In all which 
it will be incumbent on you, to exhibit your exertions as much 
as possible, to the aforesaid body of Christians, that our orders 
may be most speedily accomplished, that likewise in this, provi- 
sion may be made by our clemency, for the preservation of the 
common and public tranquillity. For by these means, as before 
said, the divine favour with regard to us, which we^ave already 
experienced in many affairs, will continue firm and permanent 
at all times. But that the purpose of this our ordinance and 
liberality may be extended to the knowledge of all, it is expected 
that these things written by us, should be proposed and published 
to the knowledge of all. That this act of our liberahty and kind- 
ness may remain unknown to none." 

Copy of another Ordinance which was issued by the Emperoi^s, in- 
dicating that the benefit was conferred solely on the catholic 
(universal) church. 

" Hail, our most esteemed Anulinus. This is the course of our 
benevolence; that we wish those things that belong justly to 
others, should not only remain unmolested, but should also when 
necessary be restored, most esteemed Anulinus. Whence it is 
our will, that when thou shalt receive this epistle, if any of those 
things belonging to the catholic church of the Christians in the 
several cities or other places, are now possessed either by the 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 429 

decurions, or any others, these thou shalt cause immediately to 
be restored to their churches. Since we have previously deter- 
mined, that whatsoever these same churches before possessed, 
shall be restored to their right. When, therefore, your' fidelity 
has understood this decree of our orders to be most evident and 
plain, make all haste to restore, as soon as possible, all that be- 
longs to the churches, whether gardens or houses, or any thing 
else, that we may learn thou hast attended to, and most carefully 
observed this our decree. Farewell, most esteemed and beloved 
Anulinus." 

Copy of the Emperor's Epistle, in which he ordains a council of 
bishops to be held at Rome, for the unity and peace of the 
church. 

" CoNSTANTiNE AUGUSTUS, to Miltiadcs bishop of Rome, and to 
Marcus. As many communications of this kind have been sent 
to me from Anulinus, the most illustrious proconsul of Africa, in 
which it is contained that Cascilianus, the bishop of Carthage, 
was accused, in many respects, by his colleagues in Africa ; and 
as this appears to be grievous, that in those provinces which 
divine Providence has freely entrusted to my fidelity, and in 
which there is a vast population, the multitude are found inclining 
to deteriorate, and in a manner divided into two parties, and 
among others, that the bishops were at variance; I have re- 
solved that the same Cascilianus, together with ten bishops, who 
appear to accuse him, and ten others, whom he himself may 
consider necessary for his cause, shall sail to Rome. That you, 
being present there, as also Reticius, Maternus, and Marinus, 
your colleagues, whom I have commanded to hasten to Rome 
for this purpose, may be heard, as you may understand most con- 
sistent with the most sacred law. And, indeed, that you may 
have the most perfect knowledge of these matters, I have sub- 
joined to my own epistle copies of the writings sent to me by 
Anulinus, and sent them to your aforesaid colleagues. In which 
your gravity will read and consider in what way the aforesaid 
cause may be most accurately investigated and justly decided. 



430 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

Since it neither escapes your diligence, that I show such regard 
for the holy cathoHc church, that I wish you, upon the whole, 
to leave no room for schism or division. May the power of the 
great God preserve you many years, most esteemed." 

Copy of the Epistle in ichich the Emperor commanded another 
council to he held, for the purpose of removing all the dissension 
of the bishops. 

" CoNSTANTiNE AUGUSTUS to Chrcstus bishop of Syracuse. As 
there were some already before who perversely and wickedly 
began to waver in the holy religion and celestial virtue, and to 
abandon the doctrine of the cathohc (universal) church, desirous, 
therefore, of preventing such disputes among them, I had thus 
written, that this subject, which appeared to be agitated among 
them, might be rectified, by delegating certain bishops from Gaul, 
and summoning others of the opposite parties from Africa, who 
are pertinaciously and incessantly contending with one another, 
that by a careful examination of the matter in their presence, it 
might thus be decided. But since, as it happens, some, forgetful 
of their own salvation, and the reverence due to our most holy 
religion, even now do not cease to protract their own enmity, 
being unwilling to conform to the decision already promulgated, 
and asserting that they w^ere very few that advanced their senti- 
ments and opinions, or else that all points which ought to have 
been first fully discussed not being first examined, they proceeded 
with too much haste and precipitancy to give publicity to the de- 
cision. Hence it has happened, that those very persons who 
ought to exhibit a brotherly and peaceful unanimity, rather dis- 
gracefully and detestably are at variance with one another, and 
thus give this occasion of derision to those that are without, and 
whose minds are averse to our most holy religion. Hence it has 
appeared necessary to me to provide that this matter, which 
ought to have ceased after the decision was issued by their own 
voluntary agreement, now, at length, should be fully terminated 
by the intervention of many. 

" Since, therefore, we have commanded many bishops to meet 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 431 

together from different and remote places, in the city of Aries, 
towards the calends of August, I have also thought proper to 
write to thee, that taking a public vehicle from the most illus- 
trious Latronianus, corrector of Sicily, and taking with thee two 
others of the second rank, Avhich thou mayest select, also three 
servants to afford you services on the way ; I would have you 
meet them within the same day at the aforesaid place. That 
by the w^eight of your authority, and the prudence and unanimity 
of the rest that assemble, this dispute, w^liich has disgracefully 
continued until the present time, in consequence of certain dis- 
graceful contentions, may be discussed, by hearing all that shall 
be alleged by those who are now at variance, whom v/e have also 
commanded to be present, and thus the controversy be reduced, 
though slowly, to that faith, and observance of religion, and fra- 
ternal concord, which ought to prevail. May Almighty God 
preserve thee in safety many years." 



CHAPTER VL 

Of the property belonging to the Christians, 

Copy of an Epistle in which the Emperor grants money to the 

churches. 

" G)NSTANTiNE AUGUSTUS to Cgecilianus bishop of Carthage. 
As we have determined, that in all the provinces of Africa, Nu- 
midia, and Mauritania, something should be granted to certain 
ministers of the legitimate and most holy catholic (universal) re- 
ligion, to defray their expenses, I have given letters to Ursus, the 
most illustrious lieutenant-governor of Africa, and have commu- 
nicated to him, that he shall provide, to pay to your authority, 
three thousand folles.* 



* If the follis be estimated at 208 denarii, according to the usual computation, 
this sum would amount to about 10,000 dollars. 



432 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

" After you shall have obtained this sum, you are to order 
these monies to be distributed among the aforesaid ministers, ac- 
cording to the abstract addressed to thee from Hosius. But if 
thou shalt learn, perhaps, that any thing shall be wanting to com- 
plete this my purpose with regard to all, thou art authorized, 
without delay, to make demands for whatever thou mayest as- 
certain to be necessary, from Heraclides, the procurator of our 
possessions. And I have also commanded him when present, 
that if thy authority should demand any monies of him, he should 
see that it should be paid without delay. And as I ascertained 
that some men, who are of no settled mind, wish to divert the 
people from the most holy catholic (universal) church, by a cer- 
tain pernicious adulteration, I wish thee to understand that I have 
given, both to the proconsul Anulinus and to Patricius, vicar- 
general of the praefects, when present, the following injunctions ; 
that, among all the rest, they should particularly pay the neces- 
sary attention to this, nor should by any means tolerate that this 
should be overlooked. Wherefore, if thou seest any of these 
men persevering in this madness, thou shalt, without any hesi- 
tancy, proceed to the aforesaid judges, and report it to them, that 
they may animadvert upon them, as I commanded them, when 
present. May the power of the great God preserve thee many 
years." 



CHAPTER VIL 

The 'privileges and immunities of the clergy. 

Copy of an Epistle in which the Emperor commands that the pre- 
lates of the churches should be exempt from performing service 
in political matters. 

" Health to thee, most esteemed Anulinus. As it appears 
from many circumstances, that when the religion was despised, 
in which the highest reverence of the heavenly majesty is ob- 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 433 

served, that our public affairs were beset with great dangers, and 
that this religion, when legally adopted and observed, afforded 
the greatest prosperity to the Roman name, and distinguished 
fehcity to all men, as it has been granted by the divine benefi- 
cence, we have resolved that those men who gave their services 
with becoming sanctity, and the observance of this law, to the 
performance of divine worship, should receive the recompence 
for their labours, oh most esteemed Anulinus ; wherefore it is my 
will that these men, within the province, entrusted to thee in the 
Catholic church, over which Caecilianus presides, who give their 
services to this holy religion, and whom they commonly call 
clergy, shall be held totally free, and exempt from all public 
offices, to the end that they may not by any error or sacrilegious 
deviation, be drawn away from the service due to the Divinity, 
but rather may devote themselves to their proper law, without 
any molestation. So, that, whilst they exhibit the greatest pos- 
sible reverence to the Deity, it appears the greatest good will be 
conferred on the state. Farewell, most esteemed and beloved 
Anulinus." 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The wickedness which Licinius afterwards exhibited, and his 

death. 

Such then, was the divine and celestial grace, exhibited by the 
interposition of our Saviour. And such too the abundant bless- 
ings imparted to us by the peace, and in this manner our affairs 
were finaUy crowned with gladness and festivity. But malig- 
nant envy, and the daemon of iniquity was not able to endure the 
exhibition of this spectacle. 

When therefore, the events that befel the aforesaid tyrants were 
not sufficient to bring Licinius to sound reason, who as long as 
his government was prosperous, being honoured with the second 
rank after the emperor, Constantino the great, and also by inter- 
marriage and affinity of the highest order, he nevertheless 

31 



434 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

abandoned imitating a good example, and on the contrary rivalled 
the wickedness of the impious tyrants. And thus, although he had 
seen their end with his own eyes, he was resolved to follow their 
counsels rather than remain faithful to a better disposition and 
friendship. Stimulated, therefore, by envy, he w^aged a most op- 
pressive and nefarious war against the common benefactor of all, 
not regarding the laws of nature, nor leagues, nor consanguinity, 
nor paying any regard to covenants. For Constantine, as a most 
gracious emperor, exhibiting the evidences of a true benevolence, 
had not refused affinity with him, and had not denied him the 
illustrious marriage with his sister, and had honoured him as 
a sharer in that eminent nobility of the imperial family, which 
he derived from his fathers, and had shared with him the govern- 
ment of the whole empire, as his kinsman and partner, grant- 
ing him the power to rule and govern no less a part of the em- 
pire than himself. But he, on the contrary, pursued a course 
directly opposite to this, by plotting every kind of mischief against 
his superior, and inventing all manner of artifices, as if to return 
the kindness of his benefactor with evils. And first, he indeed, 
attempted to conceal his preparations, and pretended to be his 
friend, and having frequently waylaid him with treachery and 
deceit, hoped that he would very easily gain his object. But 
God was the friend and the vigilant protector and guardian of 
the emperor (Constantine) who bringing these plots formed in 
darkness and secrecy to light, foiled them. So much excellence 
has that powerful armour of piety, to repel our enemies, and for 
the preservation of our own safety. But our most divinely fa- 
voured emperor fortified by this, escaped the multifarious and 
compHcated plots of the iniquitous man. But the other, when he 
saw that his secret preparations by no means succeeded accord- 
ing to his wish, as God detected every artifice and villany to 
his favoured prince, no longer able to conceal himself, he com- 
menced an open war. And in thus determining war against Con- 
stantine, he now also proceeded to array himself against that 
supreme God, whom he knew him to worship. Afterwards he 
began gradually and imperceptibly to assail those pious subjects 
tinder him, who had never at any time troubled his government. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 435 

This too, he did, violently urged on by the innate propensity ot 
his malice, that overclouded and darkened his understanding. He 
did not, therefore, bear in mind those that had persecuted the 
Christians before him, nor those whose destroyer and punisher 
he himself had been appointed, for their wickedness. But depart- 
ing from sound reason, and as one might say, seized with insanity, 
he had determined to wage war against God himself, the protector 
and aid of Constantine, in place of the one whom he assisted. 
And first, indeed, he drove away all the Christians from his 
house, the wretch thus divesting himself of those prayers to God 
for his safety, which they are taught to offer up for all men. 
After this he ordered the soldiers in the cities to be cashiered and 
to be stripped of military honours, unless they chose to sacrifice 
to daemons. 

But these were small matters compared with the subsequent 
greater ones that were superadded. Why should we here relate 
particularly and minutely the deeds perpetrated by this enemy of 
God ?* how, as a violator of all law, he also devised illegal laws.f 
For he enacted that no one should exercise humanity towards 
the unhappy individuals in prison, by imparting food, and no one 
compassionate those perishing with hunger, in bonds, so that 
there should be no good man tolerated, or any good thing done, 
and that too, even when nature herself powerfully attracts our 
sympathy towards our fellow-men. Indeed, this was a most shame- 
less and inhuman law, calculated to expel every sense of hu- 
manity implanted by nature. Beside this, the punishment was 
attached to those who exercised commiseration, that they should 
be made to suffer the same things with those they commiserated ; 
and that those who had performed the offices of humanity should 
be thrust into prisons and bonds, to sustain the same punishment 
with the worst malefactors. Such were the ordinances of Lici- 
nius. Why should we, moreover, recount his innovations in mar- 

* This is the proper meaning of ^^so^io-ej here. Valesius invariably translates in- 
visus Deo. This cannot be supported. See note in the Panegyric, on this word. 

•j- This translation may give some idea of the play upon the word vo^o?, in the 
original. Our author is fond of the figure paronomasia, as we have seen in more 
than one instance. 



436 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

riage, or his novelties in regard to the dying ? By means oi 
which he dared to restrict the ancient and wisely established 
institutions of the Romans, and to introduce as a substitute cer- 
tain barbarous, savage, unlawful, and truly lawless laws.* He 
also invented innumerable pretexts of exaction against the peo- 
ple subject to him, and every variety of method to extort silver 
and gold, new measurements of lands,-|- and means of gain by 
way of penalty ,J from those in the country, who were no longer 
living, but had long since died. Who can tell the expatriations 
that this enemy of mankind devised besides these, the banishment 
of nobles and illustrious men, those too, whom he separated from 
their youthful wives, consigning the latter to be shamefully 
abused by certain miscreants of his own ; with how many fe- 
males, married and unmarried, he, though in the last stages of 
advanced age, gratified his unbridled passions. Why, I say, 
should I delay in reciting those things, when the excessive wick- 
edness of his last deeds make the first to appear as trifles, and a 
mere nothing ? He at last proceeded to such an extent of mad- 
ness, as to attack the bishops; now indeed, regarding them as the 
servants of the Supreme God, hostile to his measures ; but yet not 
openly for fear of his superior (Constantine.) But commencing 
his operations in a clandestine and crafty manner, by means of his 
governors and magistrates, he insidiously destroyed the most dis- 
tinguished and approved of these. And the manner of the murder 
itself, perpetrated upon them, was strange, and such as had never 
before been heard of. But the excesses perpetrated at Amana, 
and other cities of Pontus, surpassed all others in savage cruelty. 
There some of the churches of God were razed to the ground, 
some were closed, so that no one accustomed to frequent them 
could get into them, nor render God the worship that we owe. 

* The paronomasia we have here attempted to transfer. 

f These new surveys of land afforded new pretexts for embezzlement, &c. ; 
they were always attended by a new assessment. 

f £-T-i^>)jt<(ov jupS^os, we have rendered thus. Valesius says, exiiiale hicriim, which 
is too general to reach the sense. The expression seems to refer to the unlawful 
levies and impositions upon estates whose proprietors were long dead ; length of 
time, probably affording the better pretext to involve and encumber them. 



ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 437 

For he did not suppose that prayers were offered up for him ; 
reasoning thus in his bad conscience, but persuaded himself that 
we did all and propitiated the Deity only for the divinely favoured 
emperor. Hence also he directed the violence of his fury against 
us, and at the same time when his parasitical governors per- 
ceived that they were doing what was gratifying to the execrable 
tyrant, they subjected some of the bishops to the same punishments 
as the worst criminal. Those, therefore, who had done no evil, 
were led away to punishment without any pretext, just like mur- 
derers and assassins. Some also endured a novel kind of death, 
having their bodies cut into many small pieces, and after this 
savage and horrible spectacle, were thrown as food to the fishes 
into the depths of the sea. Again then, the worshippers of God 
began to flee; again the open fields, the deserts, forests, and 
mountains, received the servants of Christ. When these things 
had succeeded with the impious tyrant, after this manner, 
he finally contemplated to renew the persecution against all. 
And no doubt he would have prevailed in his determination, and 
there was nothing to hinder him to proceed in his work, had 
not God, the defender of his own servants, anticipated him, and 
led forth Constantine, his servant, with a mighty arm amid these 
events, and suddenly, as in the dense and impenetrable darkness 
of a gloomy night, caused a light and a deliverer to arise to all. 



CHAPTER IX. 



The victory of Constantine, and the blessings ivhich under him 
accrued to the whole Roman world. 

To him, therefore, the supreme God, granted from heaven 
above, the fruits of his piety, the trophies of victory over the wick- 
ed, and that nefarious tyrant with all his counsellors and ad- 
herents, he cast prostrate at the feet of Constantine.* For when 

* Constantine obtained this signal victory over Licinius, A. D. 324, the limits 
of our author's history. The first war that broke out between the two emperors, 
was occasioned by the protection which Licinius had extended to Sinicius, who 



I 



438 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 

he proceeded to the extremes of madness, in his movements, the 
divinely favoured emperor ragarded him as no more to be tole- 
rated, but taking his prudent measures and mingling the firm 
principles of justice with his humanity, he determines to come 
to the protection of those who were so miserably oppressed by 
the tyrant ; and in this, by banishing smaller pests, he thus ad- 
vanced to save vast multitudes of the human race. For as he 
had exercised only his humanity, in commiserating him the time 
before this, a man who was by no means deserving of compas- 
sion, it proved of no avail to him, who would not renounce his 
iniquity, but rather increased his madness against the people his 
subjects. But to the oppressed there was no hope of salvation 
left, in the cruelties they endured from the savage beast. Where- 
fore, also, Constantine the protector of the good, combining his 
hatred of wickedness with the love of goodness, went forth with his 
son Crispus, the most benevolent Cesar, to extend a saving arm 
to all those that were perishing. Both, therefore, the father and 
son, having as it were God the universal King, and his Son our 
Saviour, as their leader and aid, drawing up the army, on all 
sides against the enemies of God, bore away an easy victory; 
all things being prospered to them by God in the conflict accord- 
ing to their wishes. Suddenly then, and sooner than said, those 
that but yesterday breathed threats and destruction, were no 
more, not" even leaving the memory of their name. Their paint- 
ings, (their effigies) their honours received the deserved contempt 
and disgrace, and those very scenes which Licinius had seen oc- 
curring to the iniquitous tyrants, these same he experiened him- 
self As he would neither receive instruction, nor grow wise by 
the chastisements of his neighbours, he proceeded in the same 
course of impiety, and was justly hurled down the same precipice 
with them. He, therefore, lay prostrated in this way. But the 
mighty and victorious Constantine, adorned with every virtue 
of religion, with his most pious son, Crispus Cesar, resembling in 
all things, his father, recovered the east as his own, and thus re- 
had plotted against the life of Constantine, A. D. 314, and ten years afterwards he 
was overthrown, and deprived of the imperial dignity, having his life spared, only 
for a short time at the entreaties of his wife, Constantine's sister. 




ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 439 

stored the Roman empire to its ancient state of one united body ; 
extending their peaceful sway around the world, from the rising 
sun, to the opposite regions, to the north and the south, even to the 
last borders of the dechning day. All fear, therefore, of those w^ho 
had previously afflicted them, was now wholly removed. They 
celebrated splendid and festive days with joy and hilarity. All 
things were filled with light, and all who before w^ere sunk in 
sorrow^, beheld each other with smiling and cheerful faces. With 
choirs and hymns, in the cities and villages, at the same time 
they celebrated and extolled first of all God the universal King, 
because they thus were taught, then they also celebrated the 
praises of the pious emperor, and with him all his divinely fa- 
voured children. There w^as a perfect oblivion of past evils, and 
past wickedness was buried in forgetfulness. There w^as nothing 
but enjoyment of the present blessings, and expectation of those 
yet to come. Edicts w^ere pubhshed and issued by the victorious 
emperor, full of clemency, and laws were enacted indicative of 
munificence and genuine religion. 

Thus, then, after all the tyranny had been purged aw^ay, the 
empire w^as justly reserved firm and without a rival, to Constan- 
tine and his sons. Who first sw^eeping aw^ay that enmity to God, 
exhibited by the former rulers, sensible of the mercies conferred 
upon them by God, exhibited also their own love of religion and 
God, with their piety and gratitude to Him, by those works and 
operations which they presented to the view of all the w^orld. 

With the divine blessing, the end of the Tenth Book of the 
Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus. 



THE END. 



INDEX 



SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS, ETC., OCCURRING IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL 
HISTORY OF EUSEBIUS. 



The number refers to the page. 



Abraham and the pious ancients were 
in reality Christians, 26. 

Achior the Ammonite, 34. . 

Acts of Pilate forged, 384. 

Acts or records respecting the martyrs 
Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonice, 150. 

Adrian's epistle in favour of the Chris- 
tians, 137. 

Adrianus and Eubulus, martyrs, 369. 

.^desius, a martyr, 357. 

^Elia, Jerusalem, 62. 132. 

.Elius Publius, bishop of Debeltum, 203. 

Africanus, his epistle to Aristides on the 
genealogy of Christ, 30. 32. 250. ■ 

Agabus, his prediction, 53. 

Agapius, a martyr, 358. 

Agathobuli, 313. 

Agbarus, or Abgarus, his epistle, 43. 

Agreement of the churches on the pass- 
over, 211. 

Agrippa appointed king, 53. 

Alabarch of Alexandria, 55. 

Albinus, procurator of Judea, 78. 

Alcibiades, a writer, 199. 

Alexander, assistant bishop of Jerusa- 
lem, 229. 

■ — , his epistle to the Antinoites, 

and to the inhabitants of Antioch, 230. 

, his epistle to Origen, 234. 

-, his epistle to Demetrius of 



Alexandria, 240. 
Allegorical exposition of Scripture, 68. 
Ambrose, 237. 
Ammia, a prophetess, 199. 
Ammianus and Quadratus, prophets, 199. 
Ammonarium, a martyr, 260. 
Ammonius, a Christian philosopher, 238, 

239. 
Anatolius, 312. 314. 
Anencletus of Rome, 100. 
Annals and public records of Edessa, 44. 
Annianus of Alexandria, 79. 
Antilegomenoi, books so called, 323. 



! Antinous deified, 135. 
Antipater, father of Herod the Great, 

and son of Herod of Ascalon, 30. 
Antonine's epistle, 14. 
Apelles, a disciple of Tatian, 192. 
Apion on the Hexaemeron, 212. 
Apocalypse, whether written by St. John, 

297. 
Apocrypha, mentioned by Hegesippus, 

158. 
Apollonius, a martyr, 205. 
Apollonius refutes the Cataphrygians, 

200. 
Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis, his 

testimony to the legio fulminea, 184. 
Apology of Justin, 139. 
Apostles, their successors, 84 ; those that 

lived in marriage, 1 15. 
-, others so called beside the 

twelve, 43. 
Appianus, 353. 
Aquila, his version, 189. 236. 
Arabianus, 213. 
Arabian dissension, 253. 
Archelaus, Herod's son, 31. 
Aristarchus, Paul's companion, 74. 
Aristides, the apologist, 130. 
Ai-isto ofPella, 132. 
Aristobulus, 313. 
Artemon, 213. 

Ascetics mentioned by Philo, 66. 
Asclepiodotus, Theodotus, Hermophilus, ' 

and Apollonius, followers of Artemon, 

216. 
Asclepius Marcionita, 367. 
Astyrius, 287. 
Attains, his version, 182. 
Avilius, bishop of Alexandiia, 100. 
"Author unknown against the Phrygians, 

195; also against Artemon, 213. 
Authors that wrote in defence of Chris- 
tianity in the reign of Adrian, 129. 
Auxentius, martyr, 350. 

3 K i67 



468 



INDEX. 



B 

Babylas, bishop of Antioch, 249. 

Babylon, Rome so called by Peter, 65. 

Bacchylides and Elpistus, 159. 

Bacchylus, bishop of Corinth, 206. 

Baptism of heretics, 276. 

Barcabbas and Barcoph, fictitious pro- 
phets of Basilides, 133. 

Barchochebas the impostor, 131. 

Bardesanes the Syrian, 167. 

Barnabas, one of the seventy disciples, 
42. 

Basilides, 133. 

Benjamin, bishop of Jerusalem, 130. 

Baryllus, bishop of Bostra, 251. 

Bishops of Rome under Trajan, 128. 

, of Jerusalem from the time of 

our Saviour until Adrian, 130. 

■ , of Alexandria under Adrian, 



130. 



of Rome and Alexandria under 



Antonine, 137. 

under Verus, 156 

of Antioch, 156 

list of, 185. 

under Commodus, 190, 206. 

in the days of Origen, 243. 

under Decius and Gallus, 271. 



Bitthera, a fortified town of Judea, 131. 

Blastus creates a schism at Rome, 194. 
C 

Caius, an ecclesiastic, writes respecting 
the tombs of Peter and Paul, 80 ; also 
on Cerinthus, 113; on the tombs of 
Philip, 116. 

Caius (Caligula,) his insolence to Philo, 
55. 

profanes the temple, 56. 

Caius and Alexander, martyrs of Apa- 
mea, 199. 

Csesarea Philippi, called Paneas by the 
Phenicians, 382. 

Candidus on the Hexaemeron, 212. 

Canon on the passover, 312. 

Caparatha;a, a village, 112. 

Carpocrates, the heresiarch, 133. 

Cassianus, bishop of Jerusalem after 
Marcus, 192. 

Catechumens, martyrs, 223. 

Cathari, heretics, 263. 

Catholic, sense of the term, 83. 265. 

Celsus, 253. 

Cemeteries or dormitories. Christian bu- 
rial places, so called, 281. 

Census, mentioned by Josephus, 28. 

Cerdon, heresiarch, 138. 



Cerdon, third bishop of Alexandria, 

104. 
Cerinthus, nature of his doctrine, 1 14. 

, in the bath, 142. 

Cesti, books written by Africanus, 250. 
Chseremon, bishop of the city of Nile, 

261. 
Christ's manifestation, 28. 
■ nam,e applied anciently to others, 

27. 
Christians characterized, 26. 

, so called first at Antioch, 53. 

Christianity, its rapid spread, 52. 
Chrysophora, 160. 

Churches rebuilt and dedicated, 405. 
Claudius, famine in his reign, 57. 
Clement of Rome, his testimony on the 

preference given by the apostle to 

James, 49. 

■ on the gospel of Mark, 64, 65. 

his epistle, 101. 124. 

on the martyrdom of James, 58 

Clement of Alexajidria, his works, 191. 

232. 
, books of Scripture mentioned by 

him, 233. 

narrative respecting the apostle 



•John, 105. 

., on the Nicolaites, 114. 

on the apostles that lived in 



matrimony, 115. 
Cleobians, 157. 

Cleophas, brother of Joseph, 99. 
Confession and martyrdom, 230. 
Conflicts and trials of the martyrs, 320. 
Constantine's ordinances, 429. 
on the property of the Cliris- 

tians, 430. 

grant of privileges, 432. 

his victoiy, 435. 



Cornelius, the first convert from the city 
of Cesarea, 51. 

Cornelius, bishop of Rome, 263. 

Council at Rome against Novatus, 263. 

Council against Paul of Samosata, 304. 

Crescens sent to Gaul, 85. 

Crescens, the cynic and enemy of Jus- 
tine, 150. 

-, his character, 152. 



Crispus, son of Constantino, 438. 
Cyprian, on the baptism of those who 

turned from heresy, 272. 
Cyrenius, the name, a corruption of 

Quirinius, 28. 

D 

Damas, bishop of Magnesia, 120. 



INDEX. 



469 



Deacons ordained, 48. 

Death of the tyrants that persecuted the 

Christians, 391. 
Debeltum, a Thracian colony under 

^hus Publius Juhus, 203. 
Decius, persecution raised by him, 254. 
Decius and Gall us, 271. 
Dedication of the renewed churches, 405. 
Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, 222, 

249. 
Demolition of the churches, and decrees 

against the Christians, 319. 
Deputation from the Jews of Alexan- 
dria, 54. 
Desposynoi, S-eo-^too-uvoj, relatives of our 

Lord, 34. 
Descendants of David sought, 99. 
Destruction of the enemies of religion, 

401. 
Discrepancy supposed to exist between 

Matthew and Luke, 31. 
Dionysius, the Areopagite, 85. 
Dionysius, successor of Heraclas, at 

Alexandria, 252. 

■ , his account of himself, 256. 

-, other accounts, 261. 

of Serapion, 267. 

, epistle to Cyprian, 273. 

to Novatus, 268. 

, on the heresy of Cerinthus, 

and the apocalypse, 113. 

-, respecting Nepos, 205. 

■ , epistle to Germanus, in his 

own defence, 256. 
: , on those who suJSered at 

Alexandria, 257. 
, epistle to Cornelius, bishop 

of Rome, 269. 

, to the Romans, 270. 

, to Hermamon, 271. 

, on Macrianus, 278. 294. 

to Stephen of Rome, on the 



baptism of those who had fallen away, 
272, 273. 

-, to Philemon, a presbyter of 



Rome, 274. 

to the presbyter Dionysius, 



276. 



-, to Xy^stus, on heretical bap- 
tism, 276. 

toDomitius and Didymus on 



the persecutions, 283. 

, on the passover, 290. 

to Hierax, an E gyptian bish- 



op, on the sedition at Alexandria, 290, 
■, to the Alexandrians on the 



Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, his testi- 
mony to the preaching of Peter and 
Paul at Corinth, and in Italy, 80. 

, his various epistles, 158. 

— , on the contributions of the 

Roman church, 160 

mentions Dionysius the Areo- 



paschal festival, 292 ; see also 263, 
304. 148. 150. 169; et alibi passim. 



pagite, 85. 159. 
Disciples of the seventy, we have no 

•catalogue extant, 42. 
Dissensions in Asia, 28. 
Distresses in the reign of Maximinus 

389. 
Divinity of Christ, 15. 
Docetffi, 231. 
Domitian's persecution, 101, 102. 

his honours revoked, 103. 

Domninus, 231. 
Domninus, martyr, 359. 
Dositheans, 157. 



Ebionites, 112. 

Ecclesiastical library founded by Alex- 
ander, bishop of Jerusalem, 241. 

Ecclesiastical wi'iters, 135. 

Edessa, city devoted to Christ, 49. 

Egyptian martyrs in Phoenice, 325 ; in 
Egypt, 327; in Thebais, 327. 

Egyptian impostor, 78. 

Eleutherus, bishop of Rome, 206. 

Emperors Constantino and Licinius is- 
sue decrees, 426. 428. 

subsequent war and defeat of 

Licinius, 437. 

Encratites, heretics, 166. 

Evj£3t5/i/CO( /3(p\0(j 83. 

Epistle to the Hebrews, 124. 

Epistles of the apostles, those that are 
genuine and spurious, 83. 

Erynnes, or furies, 92. 

Essenes, 159. 

Evangelists, in the reign of Trajan, 1 23. 

Euarestus, fourth bishop of Rome, 120. 

Eucharist sent from one bishop to an- 
other, 210. 

Eucird, Aristotle, and Theophrastus, au- 
thors much admired by the followers 
of Artemon, 215. 

Eunuch or prince of Ethiopia, baptized 
by Philip, the first-fruits of the gospel, 
50. 

Evodius, bishop of Antioch, 104. 

Eusebius, his chronicle, 14. 

■ , demonstration and preparation 

of the gospel, 21. 

, book of martyrs. 150. 168. 183. 



470 



INDEX. 



Eusebius, defence of Origen, 243. 252:, 
253. 

_ -, life of Pamphilus, 253. 315. 

— , panegyric on the returning 



peace, 406. 



F 



Fabianus, his remarkable appointment 

to the episcopate, 248. 
Fadus, procurator of Judea, 61. 
False teachers under Adrian, also Basi- 

lides and Saturninus under Antoninc, 

132. 
Famine in the reign of Claudius, 57. 
Famine, pestilence, and war in the reign 

of Maximinus, 386. 
Firmilianus, a cruel judge, 373, et alibi. 
Florus, procurator of Judea, 81. 

, his cruelty and oppression, 81 . 

Form of salutation in the primitive 

church, 142. 



Galileans mentioned by Josephus, 28. 
GaUienus, peace after his reign, 285. 

295. 
Gaul, martyrs of, 169, 170. et sen. 
Genealogy of Christ, 32, 33. 109. 
Georse, y^ >«?«', derivation and import, 

34. 
Germanicus, a martyr, 143. 
Germanus, a martyr, 365. 
Gnostics, or Carpocratians, 133. 
Gospel, proclaimed at so late a period, 

whyl 18, 19. 
, places where it was preached by 

the apostles, 82. 
Gospels, their order, 107. 
Great Sabbath, 145. 

H 

Harmony of Moses and Jesus, 239. 
Hebrew or Syro-Chaldaic, 127. 
Hegesippus, his statement respecting 

James the brother of our Lord, 76. On 

the relatives of our Lord, 102, 103. 

On the martyrdom of Simeon, 117. 
Helen, queen of the Osrhoenians, 61. 
Helcesaites, 254. 
Hemerobaptists, 159. 
Heracletus, on the apostle, 212. 
Heraclas, bishop of Alexandria, 235. 
Herod, grandson of Herod of Ascalon, 

the first foreigner that reigned over 

Judea, 29, 30. 
, manner in which he obtained 

the government, 33, 34. 

-, his son Herod flourished in the 



Herod, his various poUcy, 31. 

— — — ', destroys the genealogical tables, 



, cruelty and death, 35. 3V. 

, the younger, together with Phi- 
lip and Lysanias, succeeds Archelaus 
in the tetrarchy of Judea, 39. 

is exiled with Herodias, 53. 



time of our Saviour, 29. 



Herod Agrippa, appointed by Caius, 53. 

, his death, 59. 

Hypotyposes, or institutions of Clement, 
232. 

I J 

James, the brother of John, slain, 58. 

James the Just, the brother of our Lord, 
and bishop of Jerusalem, his martyr- 
dom, 75. 

, preferred by Peter and John, 49. 

■ , his episcopal seat, 289. 

Jews, their miseries, 72. 81. Seditions, 
72. 

, last siege and destruction of Jeru- 
salem, 85. 87. 129 

Ignatius, second bishop of Antioch, 104. 

■ , his epistles, 120, 121. 

Imperial decrees after the peace, 426. 

Inscription, Simoni Deo Sancto, 62. 

John, St., Revelations, 101 ; exiled to 
Patmos, narrative respecting him, 105. 

, his death, 116. 

John the baptist, testimony of Josephus 
respecting him, 41. 

John, a martyr, his wonderful memory, 
370. 

John and Philip, place of their inter- 
ment, 116. 

Josephus, his antiquities, 29 ; Jewish 
war, 29. 

, on Herod, 30. 36, 37. 

, on Pontius Pilate, 39 ; on 

the different high-priests at the time 
of our Lord, 40 ; testimony respecting 
Christ, 42 ; on Philo's embassy, 64, 
55 ; irritation of the Jev/s against 
Pilate, 56 ; coincidence with Scrip- 
ture, 59, 60, 61 ; on the destruction 
of the Jews at the passover, 72 ; on 
the Egyptian im.postor, 73 ; men- 
tions James the just, 78 ; disorders 
of the Jews under Florus, 81 ; their 
great calamities, 86, 87, 88 ; horrid 
transaction, 91, 92 ; preludes to the 
approaching ruin, 94, 95 ; his works, 
96 ; testimony on the Scriptures, 97. 

Joshua and Jesus, the same name, 22. 

Irenaeus, on Simon Magus, 63. 

, on Menander, 112. 

Cerinthus, 114. 



"INDEX. 



471 



Irenaeus quotes Ignatius, 122. 

, on Poly carp, 141, 142. 

, on Proverbs, 158. 

• , on Tatian, 1G5, 166. 

■ , against the schismatics at 

Rome, 203. 

, epistle to Florinus, 204. 

Judas, the historian, 225. 

Judas of Galilee, 29. 

Julian, bishop of Jerusalem, 192. 

Julian of Apamea, 198. 

Justin, on Simon Magus, 62 ; Menan- 

der, 112; his apology, 135. 139; 

against Crescens, the cynic, 151 ; on 

the martyrs, 152, 153 ; against Try- 

phon and Marcion, 155. 
Justus, third bishop of Jerusalem, 120. 

L 

Lapsed Christians kindly received by the 
martyrs, 181. 

Leonides, father of Origen, a martyr, 
217. 

Library of ^ha, 241. 

Licinius, union with Constantino, 391. 

, change of conduct, and his de- 
feat, 433. 437 ; and death, 438. 

Lucianus defends Christianity before 
Maximinus, and dies a martyr, 385. 

Lucius, a martyr, 154. 

Luke, St., a physician, 85. 

M 

Macrianus stimulates Valerian to per- 
secution, 278 ; is patron of the magi, 

■ 278 ; characterized by Dionysius, 279 ; 
his death, 294. 

Malchion refutes Paul of Samosata, 303. 

Manes and Manichees, 309. 

Marcianus, his heresy, 231. 

Marcion, 138. 142. .192. 

Marcion, a brother of L-enaeus, 212. 

Marcionists, 157. 

Marcus, first bishop of Jerusalem from 
the Gentiles, 138. 192. 

Maria, a lake in Egypt, 65. 

Marinus, a martyr, 286. 

Mark, St., first proclaimed Christianity 
in Egypt, 65. 

, his gospel approved by Peter, 

64. 

Martyrdom of Simeon, 117; of Poly- 
carp, 149. 

Martyrs mentioned by Justin, 153 ; of 
Gaul, 169 ; of Alexandria, 257. 285 ; 
others, 348. 384, &c. 

Masbothosans, 158. 

Maturus, Sanctus,Blaiidina, and Attalus, 
martyrs, 175, 176. 



Maxentius, son of Maximian, his cha- 
racter and conduct, 339, 340. 

Maximian's cruelty and death, 338. 

Maximinus, his persecution, 376. 

■ , his pretended relaxation, 

379. 

■ , his rescript, 386. 394. 

Maximilla, Marcion's companion, 198. 

Maximus, Sidonius, and Celerinus aban- 
don the party of Novatus, 264. 

Maximus, on the origin of evil, 212. 

Melito on the passover, 1 62 ; on in- 
formers, 162 ; his apology to the em- 
peror Marcus, 163 ; his selections 
from Scripture, 154. 

Melitine legion, 184. 

Menander, the impostpr. 111. 

Menandrians, 157. 

Miltiades the historian, 199. 

Miracles in primitive times, 186. 

■ of John, attested by Apollonius, 

202. 

Modestus unmasks the error of Marcion, 
161. 

Montanus, heresy of, 165. 195. 

Morals of the persecutors, 339. 

Moses, a martyr, 267. 

Musanus, 165. 

N 

Name of Jesus and Christ, occurring in 
the Old Testament, 21, 22. 27. 

Narcissus, third bishop of Jerusalem, 
192. 

• ■ , miracle performed by him^ 

227. 

■ < — , rigid discipline, 228. 

Natalius, his apostacy and return, 214. 

Nemesion, a martyr, 260. 

Nepos and his schism, 295. 

Nero's cruelty, 74. 

persecution, 79. 

Nicolaus and his follov?ers, 115. 

Novatus, his conduct, heresy, &c., 263. 
276. 

O 

Olympiads, writers of, 57. 

'O/xox.oyooMii'oi, books of Scripturc so call- 
ed, 84. 

Order of the gospels, 197. 

Origen, his education, 217 ; a pupil of 
Clement, 225 ; his testimony to the 
preaching and martyrdom of Paul, 82 ; 
consistency of life, 221 ; leaves his 
philosophical school, 221 ; self-denial, 
222 ; providential escape, 223 ; reso- 
lute act, 22(5; difficulties, 226, 227, 
visits Rome, 235 ; Heraclas associated 



472 



INDEX, 



with him, 235 ; his great study and 
research, 236 ; remarks on Symma- 
chus' growing celebrity, and testimony 
from the Gentiles, 237, 238 ; opposed 
by Porphyry, 238 ; his refutation, 

239 ; his reasons for his application 
to Greek literature, 240 ; called to 
Arabia, and obtains the priesthood, 

240 ; his great zeal for biblical learn- 
ing, 243 ; Eusebius wrote his defence, 
243; his review of the Scriptures, 
244, 245 ; gospels, 245 ; epistle to 
the Hebrews, 246 ; book on martyr- 
dom, 248 ; his pupils, 249 ; commen- 
taries written in Palestine, 251 ; con- 
vinces Beryllus, 252 ; his sufferings, 
255 ; his defence by Eusebius and 
Pamphilus, 255. 

P 

Palmas, bishop of Amastris, 159. 

Pamphilus, martyr and friend of Euse- 
bius, 368. 

Paneas, a place noted for a miracle, 288. 

Panegyric of Eusebius on the peace, 
406. 

PantEcnus, the philosopher and Chris- 
tian, 190. 

Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, his works, 
124 ; how he derived his information, 
125; shows that there were two by 
the name of John in Ephesus, 125 ; 
testimony respecting Aristion, 126 ; 
his merits as a writer, 126. 

Papirius and Melito, martyrs, 209. 

Paraclete, 194. 

Passover, discussion respecting the time, 
207. 

Pastor, the book so called, 188. 

Paul ofSamosata, 213. 

refuted by Malchion, 303. 312. 

Paul's, St., defence, acquittal, and mar- 
tyrdom, 74. 

Paulinus, bishop of Tyre, 410. 

Paulus, a confessor, 361. 

Peace and tranquillity restored, 403. 

Pella, a place of refuge for the Chris- 
tians, 86. 

Persecutions, 217, 218. et alia. 

Persecutors, their morals, 339. 

, the events that befell them, 

343. 

Pestilence in the reign of Maximinus, 
389. 

at Alexandria, 292. 

Peter at Rome against Simon Magus, 
63. 

•Peter and Paul at'Rome, 79. 

Petrus Ascetes, 367, 



Phileas addresses the inhabitants of 

• Thmuis, 329. 

Philip, the apostle, 116. 

Philip Cesar, 252. 

Philip of Gortyna, 161. 

Phrygian heresy, 192. 

Pilate exasperates the Jews, 56. 

destroys himself, 57. 

Pinytus, bishop of Crete, writes to Dio- 
nysius, 159. 

Pliny's communication to Trajan, 1 1 9 

Polycarp, 120. 143. 

Poly carp and Anicetus, 210. 

Poly crates against Victor, 116. 208. 

Pope or papa, origin of the term, 275. 

Pontus and Caricus, 231. 

Porphyry, the opponent of the Chris- 
tians, 238. 

a martyr, 372. 



Potamisena, a martyr, 223. 

Pothinus, a martyr, 1 74. 

Preaching, evangehsts, 123. 

Predictions of Christ, 92. 

Predictions respecting Christ, 15. 

Prelates that suffered for the faith, 317. 
335. 374. 

Preparation and demonstration of tlie 
gospel works of Eusebius, 21. 

Priesthood, Jewish changes, 78. 

Privileges and immunities granted Ihc 
clergy by Constantine, 432. 

Procopius, Alpheus, and Zaccheus, mar- 
tyrs, 349. 

Ptolemy, a martyr, 153. 

Publius, bishop of Jerusalem, 192. 

Q 

Quadratus, an apologist, 129. 

, a prophet, 123. 199. 

Quirinius, see Cyrenius, 28. 

R 

Rain in consequence of the prayers of 
the Christians, 184. 

Reasons for the late appearance and in- 
troduction of the gospel, 18. 

Religion of Christ not a novel produc- 
tion, 25. 

Rescript of Maximinus, 386. 

Restoration and dedication of the chui di- 
es, 404. 

Resurrection, called rraXiyyiviT^oi.^ 180. 

Revelation of John, 297. 

Revocation of the emperors, and the 
subsequent reverse, 382. 

Rhodon, pupil of Tatian, 192. 

, against Marcion, 192. 

1 Rome's first bishops, 82, 



INDEX. 



473 



Roraanus, a martyr, 351). 
Rufus, governor of Judea, 131. 

S 

Sabellius, his heresy, 274. 
Sacerdotal plate, 208. 
Sadducus, a rioter, 29. 
Sagaris, a bishop and martyr, 208. 
Salutation, form of, 142. 
Sanctus, a martyr, 172. 
Saturnilians, 157. 
Saturninus of Antioch, 133. 
Schismatics at Rome, 203. 
Scriptures, those acknowledged as ge- 
nuine, 110. 

, reviewed by Origen, 245. 

See of St. James at Jerusalem, 289. 
Sects mentioned by Hegesippus, 157. 
Sejanus attempts to destroy the Jews, 

55. 
Seleucus, a martyr, 372. 
Serapion, bishop to Caricus, 203. 231. 

, a martyr, 258. 

, an aged believer mentioned by 

Dionysius, 267. 
Sextus on the resurrection, 212. 
Silvanus and John, martyrs, 375. 
Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, 99. 
———, his martyrdom, 117. 
Simon Magus pretends faith, 50. 

his magic rites, &c., 62. 

Soter, bishop of Rome, 168. 
Statue at Antioch, 382. 
Statues and images of Christ and the 
apostles, preserved by the gentiles, 
289. 
Statue of the woman having an hemor- 
rhage, 289. 
Stromateus, meaning of the term, 232. 
Style of the apostles, 108, 
Successors of St. James, 131. 
Sufferings of the Christians in Gaul, 

169. 
Symmachus, 336. 

T 
Tatian's errors, 166; on Justin, 152; 

Diatessaron, 152. 
Tertullian, his apology, 51, 52. 184 ; on 

Domitian, 103. 119. 
Thaddeus, sent by St. Thomas to Ag- 

barus, 45. 
Thecla, a martyr, 352. 
Themison, 198. 
Theodosia, a martyr, 359. 
Theodorus, a pupil of Origen, 249. 
Theodotion, the translator of the Bible, 

189. 
Thcodotus, a leader in heresy, 214. 



Thcodulus, a martyr, 378. 

Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, 161. 

Tlierapeuta3, and Therapeutrides, 66. 

Theudas, the impostor, 61. 

Thomas or Judas sends Thaddeus, 45. 

Thraseas, a martyr, 202. 

Tiberius proposes Christ as a God, 51. 

Timotheus, a martyr, 352. 

Timothy and Titus, 84. 

Torture, different modes applied to the 

martyrs, 333. 
Town of Christians burnt, 332. 
Tradition secured by record, 121. 
Trajan prohibits search to be made for 

the Christians, 119. 
Tryphon, the Jew, refuted by Justin, 

154. 

U 

Ulpian and ^desius, martyrs, 357. 
Urbanus, a presbyter of Rome, 264. 
Urbicius, a judge, 153. 



Valentina, a confessor, 361. 
Valentinian heresy, 138. 141. 157. 
Valerian raises a persecution, 278. 
Victor, bishop of Rome, reproved by 

Polycrates, 208. 

, admonished by Irenaeus, 209. 

, his opinion, 214. 
Victory of Constantine and Licinius, 

397. 
Victory of Constantine over Licinius, 

437. 
Vision of Dionysius, 275. 

W 

Wickedness of Licinius, and his death, 

433. 
Word of God, Christ so called, 19. 21. 

22,. et alibi passim. 
Works written in the days of Origen, 

and preserved in the library of ^lia, 

241. 
Writers, ecclesiastical, in the days of 

Verus, 156. 
, those that flourished in the days 

of Eusebius, 310. 

X 

Xystus, or Sixtus, of Rome, 276. 286. 

Z 

Zaccheus, a martyr, 349. 
Zebina, a martyr, 365. 
Zebinus, bishop of Antioch, 249. 
Zoticus of Comana, 198. 202. 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 



THE STATE OR PERIOD OF THE MOST PROMINENT PERSONS AND EVENTS 
OCCURRING IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF EUSE3IUS. 



In this Table, which is designed chieflj' to present a s3-nopsisof the principal contemporary 
events and persons, it will be observed that the dates are given according to the vulgar 
era, or four years later than the true time. The number on the left of the column shows 
the year, on the right is given the page of the work 



A. D. 

1. Oct. Cjes. Augustus being empe- 
ror of Rome, Christ was born 28 
14. Tiberius succeeds him. 
33. Christ crucified - - 39 

Tiberius dies in the twenty -third 
year of his reign, and is succeed- 
ed by Caius Caes. Caligula 53 
7. James, stn-named the Just, bishop 
of Jerusalem, the first bishop of 
the first Christian church 49 
The mission of Thaddeus to Edes- 
sa ... - 49 

The name Christian grows into use 
at Antioch. 
41 Cahgula dies, and is succeeded by 
Claudius. 
The famine mentioned in the book 
of Acts - - - - 58 
43. Herod Agrippa afflicts the church, 
and puts James the great, brother 
of John, to death - 58 

Herod dies - - - 60 

Theudas, the impostor - 61 
Helen, queen of the Osrhoenians 61 
Simon Magus - - 62 

Peter at Rome - - 63 

Philo's communication with Pe- 
ter - - - -66 
Sedition of the Jews at Jerusalem, 

and consequent destruction. 

Agrippa, Herod's son, appointed 

king of the Jews - - 72 

54. Claudius dies, and is succeeded by 

Tiberias Claudius Nero - 72 

l.Annianus, bishop of Alexandria, 

and successor of St. Mark 79 

The first general persecution of the 

Christian church - - 79 

Peter and Paul suffer martyrdom, 

and Linus is the first bishop of 

Rome - - - 82 

68. Nero dies, and is succeeded by Gal- 

ba and Otho, whose successive 



A. D. 

reigns did not embrace more than 
eighteen months - - 85 

69. Vitellius acknowledged emperor, 

but is soon after killed, and Ves- 

psisian declared emperor 85 

The Jews oppressed by grievous 

famine - - - 87 

70. Capture and destruction of Jeru- 

salem by Titus, the son of Ves- 
pasian - - 69 — 87 

Gnostics, Dositheus, Simon Magus, 
Ebion, Cerinthus. 

Simeon, son of Cleopas, the second 
bishop of Jerusalem. It is worthy 
of note that the two first bishops 
of this church were relatives of 
our Lord - - - 99 

The family of David investigated 
by Vespasian. 
79. Vespasian dies, and is succeeded by 
his son Titus. 

Aiiencletus, bishop of Rome. 
81. Titus dies, and is succeeded by Do- 
mitian, a second Nero 100,101 

Second general persecution 101 

Clement, bishop of Rome. 

Avilius, bishop of Alexandria 100 

John the apostle, exiled to Pat- 
mos ... 101 

94. FI. Clement and Domitilla, mar- 
tyrs. 

The gi-andchildren of Judas, rela- 
tives of our Lord, yet living 102 
96. Death of Domilian, who is succeed- 
ed by Nerva. Nerva is succeed- 
ed by Trajan. 
98. Cerdon, bishop of Alexandria 1 04 

Clement of Rome ; Ignatus of An- 
tioch, successor of Evodius, the 
first bishop - - 104 

Simeon of Jerusalem suffers martyr- 
dom, and is succeeded by Justus 
in the episcopate - 120 

474 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



475 



A. D. 

About this time the dates cf the 
succession in the church of Jeru- 
salem became uncertain. The 
first fifteen bishops were all He- 
brews. Of these, however, we 
know but little more than the 
names of the succession preserved 
by Eusebius - - 131 

After these followed the Gentile 
succession, when the dates be- 
came more certain. See the ta- 
bular view of the bishops append- 
ed to this table. 
99. The apostle John dies at Ephe- 
sus. 

Euarestus, bishop of Rome 128 

Primus, bishop of Alexandria. 

Alexander succeeds Euarestus in 

the see of Rome - - 128 

107. Ignatius suffers martyrdom. 

117. Trajan dies, and is succeeded by 

Adrian - - - 129 

Quadi-atus and Aristides write a 
defence of Christianity addressed 
to Adrian - - - 129 

Xystus, or Sixtus, bishop of Rome. 

Justus of Alexandria ; Telesphorus 
succeeds Xystus at Rome, and 
Eumenes succeeds Justus at 
Alexandria - - - 131 

Barchochebas the impostor 131 

The last siege of the Jews, when 
the name of Jerusalem was 
changed and called ^-Eiia, in ho- 
nour of the emperor, .'Elius Ad- 
rian - - - 132 

About this time appeared the here- 
sies of Menander, Saturninus, and 
Basilides, the olfepring of the 
heresy of Siaion Magus 133 

Adrian forbids the Christians to be 
punished without trial 136 

Hegesippus and Justin contempo- 
rary writers - - 135 
138. Adrian dies, and is succeeded by 
Antoninus Pius - - 137 

Hyginus, successor of Telesphorus 
at Rome - . - 137 

Valentine and Cerdon, Gnostics, 
notorious at Rome - 137 

Justin addresses his apology to An- 
tonine, by which the emperor is 
induced to send his edict to the 
cities of Asia - 139, 140 

Pius, bishop of Rome, is succeeded 

by Anicetus - - 141 

161. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus suc- 



A.D. 

ceeds Antoninus Pius, and is as- 
sociated with Lucius Antoninus 
Verus, his brother - 142 

163. Justin addresses a second apology 
to the emperors ; about the same 
time also Athenagoras and Tatian 
wrote their apologies. 
166. Martyrdom of Justin and Poly- 
carp - - - 149, 150 

Fourth persecution ; Anicetus suc- 
ceeded by Soter in the see of 
Rome, and Celadion succeeded by 
Agrippinus in the see of Alexan- 
dria - - - 156 

Heron, Eros, Theophilus, bishops 
ofAntioch - - 156 

Dionysius of Corinth, Pinytus of 

Crete, Philip Apollinaris, and 

Melito, Musanus Modestus, and 

Irenseus, contemporary writers 

156 

169. L. Verus dies. 

The Christian legion pray for rain, 
and victory over the Marcomanni, 
whence the legion is called ful- 
minea - - - 184 

Eleutherus of Rome - 168 

Bardesanes of Syria - 167 

177. Martyrs of Lyons emd Viemia in 

Gaul - - - 169 

Syriac and Italian tremslations of 
the New Testament are made 
about these times, as also those 
of Aquila, Symmachus, and 
Theodotion. 
180. Antonine dies, and is succeeded by 
Commodus ' - 190 

Agrippinus is succeeded by Julian 
in the see of Alexandria 190 

Pantanus, the philosopher, at the 

head of the Alexandrian school 

190 

Clement of Alexandria, the pupil 
of Pantsenus - - 191 

Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, 
being the fifteenth of the Gentile 
succession, which commenced 
after the invasion of Judea under 
Adrian - - - 192 

Rhodo opposes the errors of Mar- 
cion - - - - 192 

Phrygian errors, Montanus, Pris- 
cilia Maximilla - 191—194 

Blastus, schismatic, at Rome 194 

Miltiades and Apollonius, eccle- 
siastical writers ; the latter dies a 
martyr - - - 205 



3 L 



476 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



A.D. 

Eleutherus is succeeded by Vicior 
in the see of Rome ; and Julian 
of Alexandria by Demetrius 206 

Serapion, bishop of Antioch 206 

Nacissus of Jerusalem, Bachyllus 
of Corinth, and Polycrates at ; 
Ephesus. j 

The question respecting the pass- 
over is now agitated - 207 

Artemon's errors revived by Paul 
ofSamosata - - 213 

Natalius, Asclepiodotus - 214 

192. Pertinax. 

193. Didius Julius. 

194. Septimius Severus, emperor. 
TertuUian w^rites his apology 216 
Fifth persecution - - 217 
Martyrdom of Philip, governor in 

Egypt, Leonidas, and others 
205. Irenaeus and the martyrs at Lyons. 
Origen ... - 218 
Clement succeeds Pantaenus in the 

Alexandrian school 
About the same lime flourished Ju- 
das the historian, Alexander of 
Jerusalem, Demetrius of Alexan- 
dria, and Porphyry, the opponent 
of Christianity - 238, 239 

211. A. Caracalla and Geta, emperors. 

217. Macrinus with his son. 
Zephyrinus of Rome, successor of 

Victor, is succeeded by Calis- 
thus, who again left the church 
to Urbanus - - . 242 

218. Heliogabalus (alias Antoninus) 

succeeds Macrinus - 242 
222. Alexander Severus, emperor 242 

Philetas succeeds Asclepiades in the 
see of Antioch - - 242 

Mamaea, Alexander's mother, fa- 
vourable to Christianity 242 

Hippolytus, an ecclesiastical wri- 
ter - - - - 242 

Heraclas succeeds Demetrius in the 
see of Alexandria - 247 

Firmilianus bishop of Cesarea in 
Cappadocia - - - 247 

Theoctistus bishop of Cesarea in 
Palestine. 
236. Alexander assassinated by Maxi- 
minus Thrax, who is proclaim- 
ed emperor, and commences the 
sixth persecution - - 248 
238. Maximinus Thrax is succeeded by 
Gordian. 

Pontianus is succeeded by Anteros 
in the see of Rome, who was 
succeeded by Fabianus 248 



Heraclas bishop of Alexandria 249 

Zebinus of Antioch is succeeded by 
Baby las - - - 249 

Afiricanus, author of the work called 
Cesti - - - - 251 

Beryllus of Arabia - - 251 
244. Gordian is succeeded by Philip the 
Arabian. 

Origen's works on the Scrip- 
tures .... 250 

Heraclas is succeeded by Dionysius 
in the see of Alexandria 252 

Dissensions of the Arabians 253 

Heresy of the Helcesaites. 
250. Decius succeeds Philip. 

Seventh persecution - 254 

Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem, dies 
a martyr, and is succeeded by 
Mazabanes. 

Baby las of Antioch also died in 
prison, and was succeeded by 
Fabius - - - 255 

Origen's great sufferings and tor- 
tures - - - - - 255 

The sufferings of Dionysius 256 

The martyrs at Alexandria 257 

Novatus creates a schism at 
Rome - - - . 263 

Fabianus suffers martyrdom, and 
Cornelius bishop of Rome 263 

Cyprian of Carthage, and Fabinus 
of Antioch - - - 267 

Dionysius writes to Novatus 268 

The dispute between Cyprian of 

Carthage and Stephen of Rome 

272 

Gallus emperor. 

Lucius bishop of Rome - 271 

Valerianus emperor. 

Stephen bishop of Rome - 273 

The following bishops at this time 
were contemporary : Demetria- 
nus of Antioch, Theoctistus of 
Cesarea, Mazabanes of JElia, 
Marin us of Tyre, Heliodorus of 
Laodicea, Helenus of Tarsus. 
Stephen was succeeded by Xys- 
tus or Sixtus IL - - 273 

The Sabellian heresy - 274 

Valerian stimulated by Macrianus 
to persecute - - 278 

Dionysius bishop of Rome 302 

The sufferings of Dionysius of 
Alexandria - - - 280 

The schism of Nepos - 295 

259. Gallienus sole emperor on the 

capture of his father Valerian 

285 



253 



254 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 



477 



A. D. 



264, 

268, 

268, 



270. 



272. 

275. 
276, 

277. 



282, 

283. 

284. 



287. 



302. 



304. 



310. 



Cyprian and Laurenlius suffered 
martyrdom. 

The episcopal see of James at Je- 
rusalem held in great veneration 
in these times - - 289 

Dionysius of Alexandria dies, and 
is succeeded by Maximus 303 

Paul of Samosata creates a schism, 
and is condemned in a council 
at Antioch - - - 302 

Claudius emperor of Rome 303 

Felix, successor of Dionysius of 
Rome, is succeeded by Eutychia- 
nus, who was soon after suc- 
ceeded by Caius. 

Aurelian emperor, to whom an ap- 
peal was made against Paul of 
Samosata - - - 308 

The ninth persecution commenced 
by Aurelian - - 308 

Tacitus emperor. 

Florianus emperor. 

Probus emperor. 

Origen of the Manichean here- 
sy - - - - 300 

Cams emperor - - 308 

Carinus and Numerianus emperors. 

Caius bishop of Rome - 310 

Diocletian emperor of Rome, 308 
under whom the tenth great per- 
secution began, preceded by the 
demolition of the churches 319 

Marcellinus succeeds Caius in the 
see of Rome, who was overtaken 
by the persecution in his fifteenth 
year - - - - 310 

The tenth persecution, the most 
violent of all, Eusebius styles it 
emphatically the persecution 310 

Timseus, Domnus, and Cyrillus suc- 
cessively bishops of Antioch 310 

Tyrannus succeeds Cyrillus 310 

Eusebius successor of Socrates in 
the see of Laodicea. 

Marcellus succeeds Marcellinus in 
the sec of Rome, who was fol- 
lowed by Eusebius. Neither of 
these is mentioned by Eusebius. 
The former was banished by 
Maxentius for his rigorous dis- 
cipline ; the latter was banished 
by the same emperor. 

These were succeeded by Miltiades 
or Melchiades, who is mentioned 
in connexion with Marcus in the 
epistle of Constantine - 429 

Diocletian and Maximian abdicate 
the "fovernment. 



A. D. 

310. Constantius Chlorus and Galerius 
Maximianus, son-in-law of Dio- 
cletian, are created Augusti 338 

The empire being thus divided be- 
tween the two emperors, Galerius 
adopted the two Caesars, Severus 
and his nephew Maximinus 337 

Licinius appointed emperor and 
Augustus by a common vote of 
the emperors - - 338 

Maximinus assumes the title of Au- 
gustus . . - 338 
306. Constantius, emperor of the west, 
dies in Britain, and Constantine 
liis son is proclaimed emperor ; 
an event which defeated the am- 
bitious and tyrannical projects of 
Galerius Maximianus - 338 

Maximian dies a disgraceful death, 
after an attempt against the life 
of Constantine - - 338 

Maxentius, son of Maximian, as- 
sumes the imperial dignity at 
Rome - - - - 339 

Maximinus of the east, and Maxen- 
tius at Rome, secretly combine 
against Constantine and Lici- 
nius ... - 340 

The excesses committed by the ty- 
rants - - - 340, 341 

About this time flourished Anato- 
lius, distinguished as bishop of 
Laodicea and a writer 311 — 313 

Stephen bishop of Antioch 314 

Theotecnus, bishop of Cesarea in 
Palestine, was succeeded by Aga- 
pius, the contemporary of Pam- 
philus. Agapius was succeeded 
by Eusebius, the author of the 
Ecclesiastical History - 314 

About this time also flourished as 
writers, Pierius of Alexandria, 
Melchius bishop of Pontus, and 
Miletius, the honey of Attica 315 

Hymenseus, Lambdas, and Hermon, 
successively bishops of Jerusalem 
about this time - - 315 

Maximus, the successor of Diony- 
sius, was succeeded by Theonas 
in the see of Alexandria 315 

Theonas was succeeded by Peter 
and Achillas, and he by Alexan- 
der. The last of these was in- 
directly the occasion of the sub- 
sequent Arian controversy. 

Hermon of Jerusalem, Alexandei 
of Alexandria, Miltiades of Rome, 
Tyrannus of Antioch, Thcodotus 



478 



CHRONOLOGirAL TABLE. 



of Laodicea, and Agapius of Co- 
sarea in Palestine, are the last 
bishops mentioned by Eusebius 
in the most prominent sees. 
314. Miltiades was succeeded by Sylves- 
ter in the see of Rome, in whose 
times the council of Nice was 
held. 

Constantine establishes the free ex- 
ercise of the Christian religion, 
and liberates the Roman world 
from oppression - - 404 

The churches are now restored and 
dedicated - - - 405 

Universal peace in the church, large 
endowments made by the empe- 
ror, privileges granted to the 
clergy, with the restoration of 
confiscated property 431, 432 



A. D. 

'J'he splendour v/hich the churcli 
now began to wear seems to 
have laid the foundation to its 
subsequent corruption. 
415. Licinius forms plots against Con- 
stantine, but is foiled - 434 
He proceeds to persecute the Chris- 
tians with great violence 435 
Great excesses committed by him 
436 
415. Engages in battle with Constantine, 
is totally defeated, and soon after 
put to death - - 437 

434. Constantine sole master of the Ro- 
man world. 
This epoch forms the limits of the 
Ecclesiastical History of Euse- 
bius. 



Tahular View of the Order of the Episcopal Succession in 
the prominent Dioceses mentioned by Eusehius, 



Bishops of Jerusalem, 


30. Narcissus. 


1. James the brother of our 


31. Dius. 


Lord. 


32. Germanio. 


2. Symeon, son of Cleopas. 


33. Gordius. 


3. Justus. 


34. Narcissus 11. 


4. Zaccheus. 


35. Alexander. 


5. Tobias. 


36. Mazabanes. 


6. Benjamin 


37. Hymenaeus. 


7. John. 


38. Zabdas. 


8. Matthias. 


39. Hermon. 


9. Philip. 




10. Seneca. 

11. Justus. 


Bishops of Jlntioch 


12. Levi. 


1. Evodius. 


13. Ephres. 


2. Ignatius. 


14. Joseph. 


3. Heron. 


15. Judas, last of the Hebrew 


4. Cornelius. 


succession. 


5. Evos. 


16. Marcus. 


6. Theophilus. 


17. Cassianus. 


7. Maximinus. 


18. Publius. 


8. Serapion. 


19. Maximus. 


9. Asclepiades. 


20. Julian. 


10. Philetus. 


21. Caius. 


11. Zebinas. 


22. Symmachus. 


12. Babylas. 


23. Caius XL 


13. Fabius. 


24. Julian 11. 


14. Demetrianus. 


25. Capito. 


15. Paul of Samosata. 


2Q. Maximus II. 


16. Domnus. 


27. Antoninus. 


17. Timaeus. 


28. Valens. 


18. Cyrillus. 


29. Dolichianus. 


19. Tyrannus. 



479 



w 



480 



ORDER OF EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION. 

2. Avilius. 

3. Cerdo. 



Bishops of Nome. 

Peter and Paul, according to Eusebius 
died as martyrs at Rome ; after these 
followed 

1. Linus. 

2. Anencletus. 

3. Clement. 

4. Euarestus. 

5. Alexander. 

6. Xystus or Sixtus. 

7. Telesphorus. 

8. Hyginus. 

9. Pius. 

10. Anicetus. 

11. Soter. 

12. Eleutherus. 

13. Victor. 

14. Zephyrinus. 

15. Callisthus. 

16. Urbanus. 

17. Pontianus. 

18. Anteros. 

19. Fabianus. 

20. Cornelius. 

21. Lucius. 

22. Stephanus. 

23. Xystus or Sixtus II. 

24. Dionysius. 

25. Felix. 

26. Eutychianus. 

27. Caius. 

28. Marcellinus. 

29. Miltiades. 

Bishops of Mexa n dria. 

The evangelist Mark established the 
church there, and after him came 

1. Annianus. 



4. Primus. 

5. Justus. 

6. Eumenes 

7. Marcus. 

8. Celadion. 

9. Agrippinus. 

10. Julianus. 

11. Demetrius. 

12. Heraclas. 

13. Dionysius 

14. Maximus. 

15. Theonas. 

16. Peter. 

17. Achillas. 

18. Alexander. 

Bishops of Laodicea mention- 
ed by Eusebius, 

Thelymedres. 

Heliodorus. 

Socrates. 

Eusebius of Alexandria. 

Anatolius. 

Stephen. 

Theodotus. 

Bishops of Cesarea 'mention- 
ed by our author. 

Theophilus. 

Theoctistus. 

Domnus. 

Theotecnus. 

Agapius. 

Eusebius. 



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